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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.