The Crab Nebula was observed for 1st time in 1054
The Crab Nebula was observed for the first time June 4, 1054 by Imperial astronomers during China’s Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).
Astronomers recorded the Nebula as a “guest star”, was a supernova explosion 6,500 light years away. The event outshone Venus in the night sky and was observed from 1054 to April 12, 1056.
Crab Nebula
Issued by the US in 2026
Using images from the James Webb Telescope
About 1,000 years ago, astronomers looked up at the night sky and saw a ‘new star’ where there hadn’t been one previously. The supernova remnant that formed in the aftermath is known as the Crab Nebula, because early observers who discovered it through their telescopes felt it resembled a crab.
In the 1950s, astronomers noted the correlation between ancient Chinese astronomical records of the supernova – known as SN 1054 – and the location of the Crab Nebula.The discovery of a pulsar – a spinning neutron star – at the heart of the Crab Nebula, powering the nebula’s expansion, proved the link between the ancient and modern observations.
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/hubble-crab-nebula-2024
Last year’s SOD also dealt with cool space stuff: