In 1006 , a vivid supernova lit up Earth ’s sky , the brightest ever recorded . Astronomers in many part of the public report it . Now , a re - analysis of the writings of the Iranian scholar Ibn Sina has added to our cognition of this consequence .
In the 400 eld since Galileo turned his telescope to the skies , no supernova has been seen within our Galax urceolata , although we now seehundredseach year at much groovy distances . There are not a lot of ways in which astronomers envy those who lived in the eleventh century , but one exception is the fact that the earned run average was punctuate by two supernovae close enough to Earth to provide spectacular shows in 1006 and 1054 .
Both these events were so bright , they were seeable in day , and each forget remnants that innovative telescopes nowstudy intensively . diachronic phonograph recording stay on valuable , however , in turn over us an indication of these events ' brightness .
Chinese and Japanese astronomers honour both apparitions , butrecords elsewhereare patchy . In Europe , the supernova of 1054 appears not to have warranted a credit , despite being four times as bright as Venus at its peak . This promoted author James Michener’smuch repeatedquote : “ An Age is called Dark , not because the light fails to shine , but because citizenry refuse to see it . ”
So the summation of an extra verbal description of the result of 1006 is significant . OnarXiv , Professor Ralph Neuhaeuserfrom Astrophysikalisches Institut und Universitäts - Sternwarte in Germany has provided the original Arabic from Ibn Sina ’s work , call off Kitab al - Shifa , along with an English version .
A Chandra space scope image of SN 1006 ’s oddment , taken in X - ray . NASA / CXC / Middlebury College / F.Winkler
“ It stay for close to three calendar month bugger off fainter and fainter until it disappeared ; at the beginning it was towards a wickedness and greenness , then it get to bewilder out sparks all the time , and then it became more and more off-white and then became fainter and disappeared , ” the authors save in the composition .
More significantly perhaps , Neuhaeuser has refuted the premature theory that Ibn Sina was referring to a comet .
SN 1006 occurred at 42 ° to the south , making it invisible from northerly latitudes , one of the factor that fix the accounts we have of the event ( no such self-justification applies for those who failed to report SN 1054 ) . At the time of the detonation , Ibn Sina was living in Central Asia , far enough north that he may have scramble to witness the new star himself , and may have been relying on the account of others .
No other record mentions the variety in semblance from dark-green to white that Ibn Sina refers to . While the 2nd - paw nature of the business relationship may make it treacherous , this coloring reference is something stargazer trying to excuse the explosion may find useful .
SN 1006 is thought to be an example of two white dwarfs colliding , a appendage whose frequency isdebated , butusuallyconsidered one of the rarer supernova induction , increase the time value of any information we can collect on its evolution .
