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Published online 3 December 2008 |
Nature
| doi:10.1038/news.2008.1271
Corrected online: 4 December 2008
News
Astronomers revisit a blast from the past
Light 'echoes' from 436-year-old supernova explosion first seen by Tycho Brahe.
A team of astronomers has managed to re-watch the explosion of a star that died more than 400 years ago by studying light that has bounced off distant clouds of interstellar dust. Their astronomical archaeology could provide clues about dark energy, a mysterious force that may be pushing the Universe apart.
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I believe the Latin for "new star" is "STELLA nova", not "stellar nova".
It's a fair cop.
it might happen again but maybe im not breathing anymore that time..:)
Fascinating stuff! If I had to do it all over again I'd be an astro-physicist.
I'm just curious how they can be sure this light is from the supernova and not some other source - since it's bounced off other objects across several hundred light-years of space.
Brahe called the object a "stella nova", or new star, but it was actually the explosive death of an old star, known today as a supernova....................................................... "stella nova" IS how the article referred to the event.