HD (1920x1024) Crab Supernova explosion:

Animation showing the Crab Supernova explosion and its remnant.

From Wikipedia:

SN 1054 is a supernova
that was first observed as a new "star" in the sky on 4 July 1054 AD,
hence its name, and that lasted for a period of around two years. The
event was recorded in multiple Chinese and Japanese documents and in one document from the Arab world.
While it has been hypothesized that SN 1054 was also observed by
American-Indian tribes and Europeans, it has not been conclusively
proven.
The remnant of SN 1054, which consists of debris ejected during the explosion, is known as the Crab Nebula. It is located in the sky near the star Zeta Tauri (ζ Tauri). Some of the remnant of the explosion formed a pulsar, called the Crab Pulsar (or PSR B0531+21). The nebula and the pulsar it contains are the most studied astronomical objects outside the Solar System. It is one of the few Galactic
supernovae where the date of the explosion is well known. The two
objects are the most luminous in their respective categories. For these
reasons, and because of the important role it has repeatedly played in
the modern era, SN 1054 is the best known supernova in the history of
astronomy.
The Crab nebula is easily observed by amateur astronomers thanks to
its brightness, and was also catalogued early on by professional
astronomers, long before its true nature was understood and identified.
When the French astronomer Charles Messier watched for the return of Halley's Comet
in 1758, he confused the nebula for the comet, as he was unaware of the
former's existence. It was because of this error that he created his
catalogue of non-cometary nebulous objects, the Messier Catalogue, to avoid such mistakes in the future. The nebula is catalogued as the first Messier object, or M1.