Past and Future Supernovas

The red supergiant star Betelgeuse is a well-known and prominent feature of the constellation Orion (The Hunter), forming the right shoulder of the imaginary hunter.  Betelgeuse is about 18 times the mass of our sun and is only 10 million years old.  Stars this massive burn rapidly, however, so Betelgeuse is actually nearing the end of its lifetime.  When its nuclear fuel is exhausted the outer layers will collapse and then rebound in an immense explosion as a supernova.  Predicting when this collapse will occur is very tricky, but current estimates range from tens to thousands of years. 

In the constellation Taurus, about midway between Orion and Auriga, lies the remnant of a previous supernova that occurred less than a thousand years ago, in 1054 AD.  This remnant is known as the Crab Nebula.  It was discovered by the English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. It was subsequently observed in 1758 by the French comet hunter Charles Messier, who was searching for the predicted return of Halley's comet.  When Messier realized that the object was not moving it inspired him to begin his catalog of comet-like objects now known as the Messier Catalog.  The Crab Nebula (the name it acquired in the 1840s) is the first object in the catalog: M1.

Betelgeuse is the orange star in the middle of the frame.  The position of the Crab Nebula is marked with a white circle.  Sony A7iii + Laowa 15mm f/2  + softon filter.

When viewed in a small telescope M1 is an indistinct fuzzy blob.

M1, The Crab Nebula.  The bright star lower left is magnitude-3 Zeta Tauri.  E-P5 + Rokinon 135mm f/2.  ISO 1600, 60 s. 2° field.

 The supernova that produced the Crab Nebula was recorded unambiguously by Chinese astronomers of that time, but there is also a pictograph on a cliff overhang in Chaco Canyon, NM that is theorized to be a depiction of the event.

Chaco Canyon, NM, 1987.

For the pedants:

Supernova (noun): plural supernovas or supernovae