M1, also designated NGC 1952, or more commonly called the "Crab Nebula," is a supernova remnant and a pulsar wind nebula.  It is located in the constellation Taurus at a distance of about 6,500 light-years from Earth.  It has a diameter of 11 light-years and is constsntly expanding at a rate of approximately 1,500 km per second.  The Crab Nebula was first observed by John Bevis in 1731, and later added to Charles Messier's catalogue of comet-like objects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula

ABOUT THE IMAGE

DATE/TIME:  The evening of November 1st and morning of the 2nd, 2008

CAMERA:  Canon XSI, 450D

TELESCOPE:  Orion 100mm ED refractor @ F/9

ISO SETTING:  800

EXPOSURES:  6

EXPOSURE LENGTH:  10min.

TOTAL EXPOSURE LENGTH:  1hr.

SUBTRACTIONS:  10 darks frames, 10 bias frames

CAPTURE SOFTWARE:  MaximDL

STACKING SOFTWARE:  Deep Sky Stacker

PROCESSING:  Photoshop CS3