Crab Nebula
Back to class webpage
Two pictures of the Crab Nebula:
and the handout.
By careful examination of these two pictures from different years, we can
determine the date of the supernova. This Excel
spreadsheet will greatly help
in carrying out the three step process:
- Examine known stars to calibrate distance in arcseconds in the pictures.
- Compare similar features in each picture to gauge the expansion rate.
- From these expansion rates, compute an average data of the supernova.
The cells shaded in blue are the ones where you'll enter data. The other cells contain formulas which will show sensible numbers when you have entered your data.
Steve Liebling (home)
