Everything about Sn 1006 totally explained
SN 1006 was a
supernova, widely seen on Earth beginning in the year
1006 AD; Earth was about 7200 light-years away from the supernova. It was the brightest
apparent magnitude stellar event in recorded history. First appearing in the constellation of
Lupus between
April 30 and
May 1 of that year, this "guest star" was described by observers in
Switzerland,
Egypt,
Iraq,
China,
Japan, and possibly
North America.
Historic description
The
Chinese and
Arabic astronomers have left the most complete historical descriptions of the supernova.
According to
Songshi in the section of 56 and 461, the star was seen on
May 1,
1006 which appeared to the south of constellation
Di, east of
Lupus and one degree to the west of
Centaurus. It was equal to that of half a moon and shone so brightly that the objects on ground could be seen (
for example, at night). During September, it went below the horizon following the rotation of the heavens. By December, it was again sighted in the constellation Di. The Chinese
astrologer Zhou Keming, who was on his return to
Kaifeng from his duty in
Guangdong, interpreted the star to the emperor on
May 30 as an auspicious star, yellow in color and brilliant in its brightness, that would bring great prosperity to the state over which it appeared.
The
Egyptian
Arabic astronomer and
astrologer,
Ali ibn Ridwan, writing in a commentary on
Ptolemy's
Tetrabiblos, has left us another historical description of the supernova. He says that the object was 2-1/2 to three times as large as the disc of
Venus, and about one-quarter the brightness of the
Moon, and, like all other observers, says that the star was low on the southern horizon. Monks at the
Benedictine abbey at St. Gallen broadly corroborate bin Ridwan's observations as to magnitude and location in the sky, additionally writing that "[i]n a wonderful manner this was sometimes contracted, sometimes diffused, and moreover sometimes extinguished." This last is often taken as proof that the supernova was of
Type Ia. Some sources state that the star was bright enough to cast shadows; it was certainly seen during daylight hours for some time, and the modern-day astronomer
Frank Winkler has said that "in the spring of 1006, people could probably have read manuscripts at midnight by its light."
There appear to have been two distinct phases in the early evolution of this supernova. There was first a three-month period at which it was at its brightest; after this period it diminished, then returned for a period of about eighteen months. Most astrologers interpreted the event as a portent of warfare and famine.
A
petroglyph of the
Hohokam has been discovered which may be the first known North American representation of the supernova.
The Supernova Remnant of SN 1006
The associated
supernova remnant from this explosion wasn't identified until 1965, when
Doug Milne and
Frank Gardner used the
Parkes radio telescope to demonstrate that the previously known radio source PKS 1459-41, near the star
Beta Lupi, had the appearance of a 30-arcminute circular shell. Over the next few years, both X-ray and optical emission from this remnant were also detected. The
supernova remnant of SN 1006 has an estimated distance of 2.2 kiloparsecs, making it approximately 20 parsecs in diameter. As expected for the remnant of a
Type Ia supernova, no associated
neutron star or
black hole has been found.
Further Information
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