SN 185 AD
Supernova (SN) are pretty rare, however one did appear in
our galaxy and was first sighted on December 7th 185. The SN
appeared between the constellations of Centaurus and Circinus.
 |
| SN 185 was close to alpha Centaurus right on the border with Circinus |
The Chinese have astronomical records going back several thousand
years and are usually reliable. The Chinese astronomers described a ‘Guest
Star’ which was visible for 8 months. It was reported as follows:- In the 2nd
year of the epoch Zhongping on the day Kwei Hae [December 7], a strange star
appeared in the middle of Nan Mun [asterism containing Alpha Centauri], It was
like a large bamboo mat. It displayed the five colours, both pleasing and
otherwise.
The gaseous shell RCW 86 is probably the supernova remnant
of this event and is about 9,000 light-years away. This is the earliest record
we have of a star destroying itself in a supernova explosion.
 |
| RCW 86 |
Using information from the Chandra satellite astronomers
believe that the supernova was similar to the one that Tycho saw in 1572 and
became about as bright at magnitude -4.0.
No comments:
Post a Comment