Crab nebula. Composite x-ray, infrared and optical image of the Crab nebula (M1), a remnant of a supernova that exploded in AD 1054. The Crab lies in the constellation Taurus, some 6000 light years from Earth. The central light blue region is ultra high energy X-ray emission, dark blue and green regions are in visible light and the red regions are low-energy infrared emission. X-ray data from Chandra, visible light data from Hubble and infrared data from Spitzer, all taken on 31st January 2001.