Deep within the Crab Nebula (M1) supernova remnant is its beating heart: the pulsar left behind when its massive progenitor star finally ceased nuclear fusion and collapsed. The pulsar itself is the rightmost of the two brighter stars at the center of this Hubble Space Telescope image. Eventually, the nebula itself will drift away into space, seeding future generations of stars.
NASA and ESA, Acknowledgment: J. Hester (ASU) and M. Weisskopf (NASA/MSFC)