A guest star appears in Taurus and is recorded in East Asia
Chinese court astronomers of the Song dynasty recorded a new star near the southern horn of Taurus, bright enough to be seen in daylight for a period usually given as about twenty-three days, and visible at night for roughly two years. Japanese records refer to the same object. The material was assembled and connected to the Crab Nebula by the sinologist J. J. L. Duyvendak in 1942. The date of first sighting is not settled: 4 July 1054 is the conventional value, but some records and later analyses point to an earlier appearance, and the discrepancy is a genuine problem in the source criticism rather than a rounding difference.
Uncertain — sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated here, not resolved.
Subjects
- Crab Nebula (Messier 1) and the Crab Pulsar · celestial body · Constellation Taurus, as seen from Earth · not located
- Supernova · phenomenon · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
East Asian records of the 1054 guest star and their identification with the Crab Nebula
Supports the recording of a guest star in Taurus in 1054 and its identification with the Crab Nebula. The conventional first-sighting date of 4 July 1054 is contested in the source-critical literature and is presented here as disputed rather than settled. None of the reviews was fetched.
Chinese and Japanese court records; reviewed in the historical supernovae literature · 1054; reviewed 1942 and subsequently · Partly verified
Chinese and Japanese records assembled by J. J. L. Duyvendak (1942); reviewed in "The Historical Supernovae" (arXiv:astro-ph/0301603) and in D. W. Pankenier's discussion in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (2006)
Recorded on Crab Nebula (Messier 1) and the Crab Pulsar
- A guest star appears in Taurus and is recorded in East Asia
- Baade and Zwicky propose supernovae and neutron stars
- A pulsar is found inside the Crab Nebula
- SN 1987A: neutrinos from a collapsing core reach Earth
- JWST finds the compact object in SN 1987A
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- JWST finds the compact object in SN 1987A · 2024-02-22
- SN 1987A: neutrinos from a collapsing core reach Earth · 1987-02-23 ~07:35 UT (neutrinos); optical discovery 1987-02-24
- A pulsar is found inside the Crab Nebula · 1968
- Baade and Zwicky propose supernovae and neutron stars · 1934