James Webb Captures the Crab Nebula in Unprecedented Detail

The Crab Nebula is about 6,500 light-years away from Earth , it was created by a giant Star that went Bang about 1,000 years ago leaving a pretty Nebula in the sky for us to look at , here's a comparison of the 2006 Hubble optical image on the left and Webb's Near-Infrared Camera image on the right.


Both stunning images but Webb's is clearly more defined , so much so that as shown in the video below the Neutron star which is what remained after the Giant Star went Bang is also seen in the image , Neutron stars are so dense they have very strong magnetic fields which can also be seen in the image as parts of the Nebula are curved by its force.

Using Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), a team led by Tea Temim at Princeton University is searching for answers about the Crab Nebula’s origins.

“Webb’s sensitivity and spatial resolution allow us to accurately determine the composition of the ejected material, particularly the content of iron and nickel, which may reveal what type of explosion produced the Crab Nebula,” explained Temim.

At first glance, the general shape of the supernova remnant is similar to the optical wavelength image released in 2005 from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope: In Webb’s infrared observation, a crisp, cage-like structure of fluffy gaseous filaments are shown in red-orange. However, in the central regions, emission from dust grains (yellow-white and green) is mapped out by Webb for the first time.

Additional aspects of the inner workings of the Crab Nebula become more prominent and are seen in greater detail in the infrared light captured by Webb. In particular, Webb highlights what is known as synchrotron radiation: emission produced from charged particles, like electrons, moving around magnetic field lines at relativistic speeds. The radiation appears here as milky smoke-like material throughout the majority of the Crab Nebula’s interior.
webbtelescope.org...-id-2

Sssmokin !

a reply to: gortex

Grand G. What do you think about those half dozen huge galaxies that Webb found that are too big to exist so close to the estimated time of the Big Bang?

a reply to: BingoMcGoof

I think they'll probably turn out be be not what they appear to be , I read somewhere they may not be as formed as they first appeared to be and the amount of light from the Galaxies may be skewing the data.

Of course they may be what they appear to be and call into question our understanding of the Universe which is a good thing.

We've barely even scratched the surface.

a reply to: gortex

I cry foul.

I looked at both pictures and zoomed in as far as possible, and I didn't see a single crab ANYWHERE in either of those telescope images.

unacceptable. I demand answers. Where are the space crabs?

a reply to: gortex

I"m kind of loving it G. I"m old enough to have taken an interest in the battle between a steady state theory and the younger big ban theory. Now sixty years later the dominance of the accepted BB that has buffered our understanding of cosmology so well may be in for a big surprise. I would love to live long enough to study how this plays out. I"m kind of rooting for an older universe than has previously been speculated.

a reply to: dothedew

Are those the legendary Crabcats that are so fear invoking?

.....(shudder).....

originally posted by: MoreCoyoteAngels
a reply to: dothedew

Are those the legendary Crabcats that are so fear invoking?

.....(shudder).....

They invoke so much fear because they have evolved to learn how to use modern weaponry.

By themselves - scary. Wielding a Glock - terrifying.

a reply to: dothedew

Fear the Crabcat! (they eat goldfish)

a reply to: gortex

The images are rather breathtaking.

Then when you consider the fact that the area is 6,500 light-years distant it just makes the wonder almost even more incomprehensible.

a reply to: andy06shake

Then when you consider the fact that the area is 6,500 light-years distant.....

Which when taking the size of the Universe as a whole is practically next door.
Try doing the math - light travel at approximately 186,000 if I remember correctly.
That equals approximately 97,761,600,000 miles per earth year.
Times that by 6500 and that's a hell of a lot of zero's!

Great post Gortex, keep 'em coming.

a reply to: Freeborn

Which when taking the size of the Universe as a whole is practically next door.

True.

But from our perspective down here on Earth, its hard to imagine such distances, or get the head around just how far away 6,500 light-years actually is.

Which would equate to approximately 38,200,000,000,000,000 (or about 3.82 quadrillion) miles away or thereabouts.

I used to think that I had misssed all the coolest space stuff cos it happened when I was little, Voyager, Viking, Mariner and Apollo but this JWST and before it Hubble has made me re evaluate all that. It is mid blowing the detail we can see these days compared to when I was young.

At night the last thing I do is have a smoke on the doorstep.
Love it when there's a clear sky - I just stand there looking up at the sky in amazement at the grand scale of it all.
Anyone watching me must think I'm either off my tits or there's something seriously wrong with me.

Its always fascinated me but at 58 years old I'm even more in awe of it all now than I ever have been.

originally posted by: MoreCoyoteAngels
a reply to: dothedew

Are those the legendary Crabcats that are so fear invoking?

.....(shudder).....

I always associated crabcats as potential cryptozoological terrans, perhaps associated the Draconians or Silarians aka lizzid peeple.

a reply to: putnam6

Definately another cross created by the lizzid people. Legendary to the aquatic life!

a reply to: gortex

So James Web has crabs, like Edwin Hubble did, but with more?

The Crab Nebula is about 6,500 light-years away from Earth , it was created by a giant Star that went Bang about 1,000 years ago leaving a pretty Nebula in the sky for us to look at

If it poped it's turnip 1000 years ago and the light needs 6500 years to reach us how does that work?

a reply to: gortex

a reply to: Xamalad

I think gortex means from our perspective.

The supernova explosion that created the Crab Nebula was observed by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054.

Which is 969 years ago and nearly enough 1000.

originally posted by: dothedew
a reply to: gortex

I cry foul.

I looked at both pictures and zoomed in as far as possible, and I didn't see a single crab ANYWHERE in either of those telescope images.

unacceptable. I demand answers. Where are the space crabs?

wonder if they can tell if zoltan and the bubble wrap cult have made it back from the party in the crab nebula?