2 weeks Ago
began his observations on Oct. 17 and tracked the new star for over a year. During that time, it brightened to magnitude -2.
5, outshining Jupiter, and for several weeks remained visible in the daytime. Publication of his detailed observations in 1606 led astronomers to call the star Kepler's Supernova, today formally designated as supernova SN 1604. Astronomers of the day did not know what caused the star's sudden appearance and eventual disappearance, but the phenomenon helped shape European cosmology toward the heliocentric model proposed by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus half a century earlier.
Today, astronomers designate SN 1604 as a Type Ia supernova, resulting from the explosion of a white dwarf star, and use ground-based and space-based telescopes to study its remnants. Left: Portrait of Johannes Kepler by August Köhler. Middle: Kepler's book about his observations of the 1604 supernova open to the page depicting the location of the new star.
Right: Closeup of Kepler's illustration of the location of the new star, designated N, in the constellation Ophiuchus near the right foot of the serpent-bearer. Italian astronomer Lodovico delle Colombo first observed the supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus on Oct. 9.
Kepler, then working in Prague, heard rumors of the new star but did not observe it until Oct. 17. He continued to monitor the star for over a year, inspired by the earlier work of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe's observations of a similar phenomenon, the 1572 supernova.
The new star quickly brightened to magnitude -2.5, outshining Jupiter, and for three weeks could be seen in the daytime before finally fading into obscurity in March 1606. Kepler could only make naked eye observations, since Italian.
.. Kelli Mars.
