Spectacular death. Spectacular star. Your crushed heart remains…

Spectacular death. Spectacular star. Your crushed heart remains bright from afar.

You’re looking at a composite image of the Crab Nebula, located 6,500 light-years away. The white dot in the center — an extremely dense ball of neutrons just 12 miles across but with the same mass as our Sun — is all that remains from a star that exploded in 1054 A.D. Had the blast occurred 50 light-years away, its intense radiation would have wiped out most life forms on Earth. 

Spectacular death. Spectacular star. We’re grateful we can admire you from afar.