M 1: Crab Nebula

The Crab Nebula (also known as M 1 or NGC 1952) is a supernova remnant visible in the contellaion of Taurus, nexto to the star Tianguan (ζ Tau).
The nebula is made up of the rapidly expanding (1500 km/s) gases ejected during the famous supernova explosion observed on July 4th, 1054.
At the core of the nebula lies the Crab Pulsar (identified as PSR B0531+21), residue of the violent explosion.
M 1 is about 6500 l.y. away from us and extends 5.5 l.y. across.