Hubble 重新观测 Crab Nebula，将 2026 年 3 月 23 日的新影像与 1999 年资料比较，追踪这个距离地球约 6,500 光年的 SN 1054 超新星遗迹在 25 年间的演化。这次基线约占人类对该遗迹已知历史的极小部分，却足以直接显示丝状结构的明显外移；其量测速度约为每小时 550 万公里（5.5 million km/h），约合每秒 1,530 公里。
影像显示，星云外围丝状体的位移大于中心区域，趋势更接近整体向外平移，而不是随时间被拉长。研究团队将此归因于由中心 pulsar 驱动的 pulsar wind nebula 机制与 synchrotron radiation，而非典型由初始爆炸 shockwave 主导的壳层侵蚀。两次 Hubble 影像的颜色差异也反映了气体局部温度、密度与化学组成的变化。
新资料还改善了对 Crab Nebula 三维结构的判读。部分丝状体会在内部 synchrotron haze 上投下阴影，但一些更明亮的丝状体没有阴影，表示它们位于星云远侧。这组 Hubble 结果已发表于 The Astrophysical Journal，且可与 James Webb Space Telescope 在 2024 年发布的红外线观测结合，形成跨波段、跨世纪的比较框架，以更完整重建这场近千年前爆炸的持续后效。
Hubble revisited the Crab Nebula by comparing a new image released on March 23, 2026 with data from 1999, tracing 25 years of evolution in the remnant of SN 1054, about 6,500 light-years from Earth. That baseline is only a small fraction of the remnant's known history, yet it is long enough to show clear outward motion in the filaments; the measured pace is about 5.5 million km per hour, or roughly 1,530 km per second.
The images show that filaments at the nebula's periphery have shifted more than those near the center, with a trend closer to bulk outward displacement than to stretching over time. The team attributes this to the pulsar wind nebula mechanism powered by the central pulsar and synchrotron radiation, rather than the shell erosion driven by the initial explosion's shockwave in more typical supernova remnants. Color differences between the two Hubble images also trace changes in local gas temperature, density, and chemical composition.
The new data also improve interpretation of the Crab Nebula's three-dimensional structure. Some filaments cast shadows onto the inner synchrotron haze, but several brighter filaments show no shadows, implying that they lie on the far side of the nebula. The Hubble results, published in The Astrophysical Journal, can be combined with the James Webb Space Telescope's infrared observations released in 2024 to build a multiwavelength, multidecade framework for reconstructing the continuing aftermath of an explosion first seen nearly 1,000 years ago.