The famous Crab Nebula, Messier object 1 and NGC1952. This is unusual because most astronomical pictures are coloured by combining three different exposures taken through red, green and blue filters.
North is up with east to the left.
With higher resolution pictures, this appearance became far less compelling, but the name has stuck. It is the remnant of a supernova explosion in the year 1054 A.D., which was recorded in five separate accounts from Chinese astronomers in the Far East. It is perhaps odd that no western observation has survived, since it was certainly one of the most spectacular historical supernovae. The red tendrils are excited gas, emitting strong H-alpha radiation. The nebula continues to expand and change the details of its appearance, and this is partly due to the violence of the original explosion.