A supernova lit up Earth’s sky in 1054 and was visible in daylight. Hubble now shows its glowing remains are still expanding nearly 1,000 years later

The Crab Nebula, remnant of a supernova observed in 1054, is still expanding nearly 1,000 years later, as shown by new Hubble Space Telescope images.

Astronomers compared Hubble images from 1999/2000 with new observations to measure the outward motion of the nebula's gas filaments.

The Crab Nebula lies about 6,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus and is also known as Messier 1.

The central Crab Pulsar continues to power the nebula's glow, and scientists identified previously unrecognised filament structures.

The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal by William P Blair of Johns Hopkins University and his team.