Identification of the `Guest Star' of AD185
as a comet rather than a supernova
-
Y.-N. Chin
-
Radioastronomisches Institut der Universität Bonn
- Auf dem Hügel 71, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
- and Y.-L. Huang
-
Institute of History,
National Tsing Hua University
- Hsinchu 30043, Taiwan
Paper published on29 September 1994 by Nature in vol 371, pp.398 - 399.
If you want to have a look at the complete paper please click
here (PostScript file of 1015542 bytes).
Abstract.
Very few nearby suprenova have been bright enough to see
with the naked eye. The only such case this century was Supernova 1987A.
Matching historical records of such events with presently observable remnants
allow accurate estimates to be made of the age and incidence rate of
supernovae; ancient Chinese astronomical records are a particularly valuable
resource for this purpose. In the Houhanshu of the Later Han dynasty is
recorded the appearance of a `guest star' in AD 185.
This is widely regarded as the oldest supernova recorded historically, and
several candidate remnants have been suggested, in particular the object
RCW86.
Here we show that a reinterpretation of the relevant passage in the
Houhanshu is inconsistent with the supernova interpretation, but suggests
instead that the guest star was a comet.
Our findings indicate that some of the keywords used by Chinese astronomers in
historical records must be interpreted with caution.
Any suggestion or comments please
e-mail to einmann@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw.
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