Witnesses to a Violent Death
In the year 1054, Chinese astronomers reported that a "guest star" had suddenly appeared in the sky. They described it as six times brighter than Venus and as brilliant as the full Moon. This was a supernova -- the explosion of a star that may have been ten times bigger than our Sun -- and it gave birth to the Crab Nebula. For almost a month, people could see it blazing in the sky at high noon. No European records of the event exist, but the Anasazi Indians of Arizona's Chaco Canyon depicted it. Two drawings, both showing a crescent moon with a large star in the correct position for July 5, 1054, have been found in Anasazi caves. Since then, we have been able to see three dramatic supernova explosions from Earth with the naked eye: in 1572, in 1604, and in 1987.