Astronomy Picture of the Day 3-28-03

NASA ^ | 3-28-03 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2003 March 28

1006 AD: Supernova in the Sky
Credit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel

Explanation: A new star, likely the brightest supernova in recorded human history, appeared in planet Earth's sky in the year 1006 AD. The expanding debris cloud from the stellar explosion is still visible to modern astronomers, but what did the supernova look like in 1006? Astronomer Tunç Tezel offers this suggestion, based on a photograph he took on February 22, 1998 from a site overlooking the Mediterranean south of Antalya, Turkey. On that date, bright Venus and a waning crescent Moon shone in the early morning sky. Adopting recent calculations which put the supernova's apparent brightness between Venus and the crescent Moon, he digitally superposed an appropriate new star in the picture. He placed the star at the supernova's position in the southerly constellation of Lupus and used the water's reflection of moonlight in the final image. Tezel hopes to view the total solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 from this same site -- on the 1,000th anniversary of Supernova 1006.

[petuniasevan]

Supernova 1006 was the subject of study on 3/17/03.

Here is the APOD thread: APOD 3-17-03

Here's a space art supernova:

Here's some information on the remnant, for all you astronomy buffs out there:

G327.6+14.6 SN1006, PKS 1459-41

• Right Ascension: 15 02 50
• Declination: -41 56
• Size (/arcmin): 30
• Type: S
• Flux density at 1 GHz (/Jy): 19
• Spectral Index: 0.6

Notes: This is the remnant of the SN of AD1006.

Radio: Shell, with two bright arcs.

Optical: Filaments to the NW, with broad Halpha component.

X-ray: Thermal shell, with non-thermal limb-brightened arcs.

Point sources: The background Schweizer-Middleditch star is near the middle of the remnant.

Distance: Optical spectra and proper motion indicate 1.7-3.1 kpc, modelling spectra gives 1.8±0.3 kpc.

[petuniasevan]

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

I love these. This one is particularly beautiful.

Thanks!

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Great - love those supernova!

[bmwcyle]

Job 35
5 Look up at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds so high above you.

[RobFromGa]

nice picture, please add me to your ping list...

[firewalk]

Thanks for the ping