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posted by takyon on Thursday August 31 2017, @12:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the now-where-did-I-put-my-astrophysics? dept.

Seems that astronomers have located the nova remnant of a star that exploded some 600 years ago.

According to Space.com:

After decades of hunting, astronomers have tracked down the origin of a nova first recorded by Korean royal astrologers nearly 600 years ago.

Evidently, Korean records are slightly different than more recent Western ones:

When the researchers first looked about three decades ago where the records seemed to say the nova was, they could not find it: "It turns out we were looking in the wrong place," Shara said. "When it comes to analyzing ancient records, it can be a challenge interpreting them correctly."

Of course, what is more interesting, is that a Nova Stella, a new star that is clearly visible, was recorded in Korea, but not in Europe. A similar situation exists with the "guest star" that resulted in the Crab Nebula, which exploded in 1054, and was recorded by Chinese astronomers. This was a supernova, and the star was so bright it could be seen during daylight, but no mention of it exists in European records.

Aristotelian doctrine, and that of the Church, was that the Heavens were unchanging, so comets were very disturbing, and new stars so unthinkable that they could not be seen? And it was Tycho Brahe and Kepler's discovery of Stella Novae that set the stage for modern astronomy.

Other coverage, including info on "dwarf nova" erupting at the same system.

Proper-motion age dating of the progeny of Nova Scorpii AD 1437 (DOI: 10.1038/nature23644) (DX)


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 31 2017, @02:08AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 31 2017, @02:08AM (#561916)

    so what does it mean? a kimchi star?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 31 2017, @03:38AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 31 2017, @03:38AM (#561945)

    The paper is in support of the hypothesis that novas and dwarf novas are different stages of same process. The researchers used the ancient Korean records and matched them up with more recent records through last centuries to chase down the binary system.