skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The Crab Nebula started out as a Protostar, which is a very big star. That Protostar grew into a Supergiant star, which is 30 to 1000 times bigger than our own sun (which is a Yellow Dwarf). The Supergiant had a Supernova (which is when a Supergiant star explodes) and collapsed on itself. Eventually, the remains of the Supergiant became the Crab Nebula.
Pluto. The ninth planet. Or it was until a few years ago when scientists confirmed that it was, in fact, not a planet. Pluto isn't a planet because, in order to be a planet, you have to:
1.) Orbit around a star.
(Pluto does this, so it might be a planet...)
2.) Have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape.
(...Pluto does this too, so maybe...)
3.) "Clear the neighborhood" of its orbit.
(...Oh no! This is the only thing Pluto has unchecked! It's, sadly, not a planet.)
The Crab Nebula is not a planet because it doesn't orbit around a star, it's not a sphere, and it doesn't really have an orbit. But that's okay, because its massive size makes it awesomer than a planet!
[Sidenote to Pluto--
It's okay, Pluto. I'm not a planet either ;) ]
The diameter of the Crab Nebula is 104,068,035,198,388.8 kilometers (or eleven light years). It's so big, that it can't even fit into the sun! The sun can fit into the Crab Nebula 74,815,267 times!!! That is a VERYYYYYY big nebula. If i could, I would post a picture of the Crab Nebula in comparison to the sun, or a planet, but I searched for an image of that and Google failed me. (I know very sad and disapointing...Google promised not to fail anyone!!! LIES!!!) I will continue my search though!!! But for now, we just know that the Crab Nebula is very, VERY, VERY big!
