Post by glactus on May 31, 2011 5:14:49 GMT
kepler;s remnant
The Supernova 1604, also known as Kepler's Supernova, or Kepler's Star, was a supernova that occurred in the Milky Way, in the constellation Ophiuchus. As of April 2011, it is the last supernova to have been unquestionably observed in our own galaxy, occurring no farther than 6 kiloparsecs or about 20,000 light-years from Earth. Visible to the naked eye, it was brighter at its peak than any other star in the night sky, and all the planets (other than Venus), with apparent magnitude −2.5. It was visible during the day for over three weeks.
Image in infra-red
The supernova was first observed in northern Italy on October 9, 1604. Johannes Kepler began observing it on October 17. It was subsequently named after him because of his book on the subject entitled De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii ("On the new star in Ophiuchus's foot", Prague 1606).
To see video clip, click on the URL below. Has sound
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLu8hv-5mu8
Kepler's remnant
Credits: These are NASA/Hubble images
Text by Wikipedia
Video by Youtube