Messier Catalog Animations

• Crab Nebula M1 movies:
  • Animation depicting the environment around the pulsar. The sequence depicts the environment immediately around the central, rotating pulsar. The twin beams demonstrate the rotation of the neutron star which is surrounded by the equitorial wind (shaded red). As the observer pulls away from the pulsar, first the "inner knot" appears from the upper left, then followed by the "sprite", and finally, the jets which appear on opposing sides of the pulsar. (Artist: Walt Feimer, STSci)
  • Crab Nebula -- The Movie: The movie is constructed from eight WFPC2 images and contains four sequences: 1) The full WFPC2 field, 2) a closer view of the pulsar, 3) closer still detailing the "sprite" which appears towards the top, and 4) extreme closeup of the pulsar and the inner knot just above it.
• Animation explaining the structure of M31
• M16 animation: Simulated approach to a star forming region in M16, based on the November 1995 Hubble images
• Orion Nebula Animation: An approach to a protostar in M42, simulated using images by the Hubble Space Telescope. [Caption]
• Animation [433 k MPG] of M81 showing a morphing from the UV to visual image (Astro-1 UIT Shuttle mission, STS-35)
• Animations related to the Virgo cluster spiral galaxy M100:
  • Demonstration of a light source fading with increasing distance
  • Cepheid Variables' Period-Luminosity Correlation
  • Simulated approach to M100; approaching a Cepheid from intergalactic space

More animations (including many space movies not related to Messier objects)

Animations from the Hubble Space Telescope (at the Space Telescope Science Institute)

Please inform us if you know another site with astronomical and space-related animations !

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Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
[contact]

Last Modification: March 8, 1998