Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site utastro.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!ut-sally!utastro!dipper From: dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) Newsgroups: net.astro Subject: StarDate: October 10 Kepler's Star Message-ID: <33@utastro.UUCP> Date: Thu, 10-Oct-85 02:00:45 EDT Article-I.D.: utastro.33 Posted: Thu Oct 10 02:00:45 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 06:17:17 EDT Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX Lines: 36 The last naked-eye supernova in recorded history was first seen on today's date in 1604. More about it -- when we come back. October 10 Kepler's Star On today's date in the year 1604, a sky watcher saw a bright new star in the constellation Ophiuchus. He hurried to the home of Johannes Kepler, the respected mathematician and astronomer. When he heard about the new star, Kepler thanked the man -- but didn't believe him. But when Kepler looked himself, he did see a strange thing in Ophiuchus -- a conspicuous new star! That star is now known as Kepler's star because he continued to study it until it faded from view several months later. It's thought that Kepler's star was a supernova, an outburst of light that signals a cataclysmic stellar explosion. Although supernovae are predicted to be common in our galaxy, only a handful have been seen in recorded history. The last one in the Milky Way was Kepler's star, nearly four centuries ago. To Kepler and thousands of years of astronomers before him, these bright supernovae were new stars. Today's we've learned that these stars aren't new at all -- instead, they're old. A supernova is simply a very massive star, explosively engaged in the process of dying. In 1604, the concept of star death was unheard-of. The heavens were thought to be unchanged from everlasting to everlasting, and thus the new star was an unthinkable mystery. Some considered it an astrological sign. But Kepler thought the new star really was new -- and that it was ignited as a sign of the will of God. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin