Astronomers from the Chinese University of Science and Technology re discovered a star, which was first seen 600 years ago in the Ming Dynasty.
As early as 1408, Chinese astronomers noticed a powerful light source in the sky, located near the constellations of the Swan and the Little Bear. Medieval Chinese astronomers described the emitted light as even, bright, and yellow
At that time, yellow was believed to symbolize good luck and to be a good omen for the emperor. Astronomers carefully monitored the astronomical events as it was believed that in this way the gods were showing people their own messages in the sky. However, over the following centuries, questions about the origin of this bright light remained unanswered.
The Chinese astronomer decided to find answers to them Boshun Yang and his colleagues from the University of Science and Technology. By analyzing ancient Chinese texts from the Ming Dynasty, using modern knowledge and equipment, the researchers were able to rule out several theories.
Astronomers have concluded that it’s not about a comet, for example, C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), as there was no characteristic trail. At the same time, the light was stably visible for 10 days. This also allowed us to rule out the hypotheses of a supernova and a meteor.
Thus, it is most likely that it was a star. A similar phenomenon occurs when a white dwarf in a double system absorbs the matter of a neighboring star, provoking a powerful thermonuclear explosion. The whole process lasts for a fairly short period of time, but it is enough to observe it for at least a few days.
According to Chinese astronomers, the star CK Vul is an ideal candidate that could have shone for several days in a row in 1408. Its location is consistent with the data of astronomers of the time. However, the analysis conducted by the Ming astronomers is very remarkable, especially if we consider that they did not have such equipment at their disposal.
The results of the study are published on the preprint server arXiv
Source: NotebookCheck
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