Right Ascension	05 : 34.5 (h:m)
Declination	+22 : 01 (deg:m)
Distance	6.3 (kly)
Visual Brightness	8.4 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	6x4 (arc min)
Discovered by	John Bevis in 1731

The Crab Nebula is the most conspicuous known supernova remnant. It is also the only Super nova remnant in Messier's catalog. This object caused Messier to start his non-comet hunting venture. He found this object while observing a comet in 1758. Messier wrote "This nebula had such a resemblance to a comet, in it's form and brightness that I endeavored to find others, so that Astronomers would not confuse the same nebulae with comets just beginning to shine." The supernova was noted on July 4, 1054 A.D. by Chinese astronomers, and was about four times brighter than Venus, or about mag -6. According to the records, it was visible in daylight for 23 days, and 653 days to the naked eye in the night sky.

 The Supernova 1054 was also assigned the variable star designation CM Tauri. It is one of few historically observed supernovae in our Milky Way Galaxy.