Supernova Lights the Sky: Visible by Day for Months
Chinese court astronomers recorded a "guest star" so bright it cast shadows at noon for 23 consecutive days. Arab physician Ibn Butlan saw it too, 5,000 miles away in Constantinople. The explosion had actually happened 6,500 years earlier—light just catching up on July 4th, 1054. Anasazi artists in Chaco Canyon may have painted it onto canyon walls beside a crescent moon. The star's corpse still spins today, rotating 30 times per second, beaming radiation across the galaxy like a cosmic lighthouse. What medieval observers called a temporary visitor was really a permanent birth announcement.
July 4, 1054
972 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Song Dynasty
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star
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Arab
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SN 1054
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Arabs
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Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
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Taurus (constellation)
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Crab Nebula
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SN 1054
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Song dynasty
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Arabs
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Indigenous peoples of the Americas
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Zeta Tauri
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Crab Nebula
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Histoire de l'astronomie
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Stier (Sternbild)
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Supernova
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Han Chinese
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