In the late 1600s, comet hunter Charles Messier mistakenly observed a smudge he thought was a comet but realized it wasn't moving. Annoyed, he started a catalog of things to avoid and entry M1 was the Crab Nebula. This is the first deep space object I photographed. This time of year, it remains high in the sky all night in the Pacific Northwest, so I took advantage of two clear nights to capture just over 5 hours of data. You are looking at the remnants of a stellar explosion or supernova that is estimated to have happened less than 10,000 years ago with the light taking 6,500 years to reach my telescope.

Celestron EdgeHD 9.25"
ZWO ASI294MC Pro cooled camera
Optolong l-eXtreme filter
CGEM-II mount

Stacked with AstroPixel Processor
Processed in PixInsight