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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Happy Birthday to the Crab

Discovered on July 4th 1054 A.D., The Crab Nubula or M1 put on quite a show in the constellation Taurus almost 1000 years ago.

We are used to the moon and sun as masters of the skies, it's hard to imagine some thing in the sky 6 times brighter than Venus. It certainly would be quite alarming to see that today, but an exciting event to behold.

More in depth detail on the Crab here: www.seds.org/messier/m/m001.html

I wonder what worlds it took along with it when it went supernova.

[stargazer]

Joe,

I am sure it took many worlds with it. We will never know. But I am sure alot of people thought the world was coming to an end when they first saw it. From what I have read during my studies it was quite a sight to see. Many of the Ancient Astronomers watched it to see what it was going to do. I have often wondered what one would look like today and what would it take with it. How bright would it be, would we see it during the day like they did back then. I can only guess and hope that sometime in our life we would see something like this.

B