A bright new evening star (SN 1604)…
October 1604 CE
A bright new evening star (SN 1604) appears, in October 1604, but Kepler does not believe the rumors until he sees it himself, and begins systematically observing the star.
1604, also known as Kepler's Supernova, Kepler's Nova or Kepler's Star, is a supernova that occurs in the Milky Way, in the constellation Ophiuchus.
As of August 2010, 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 is brighter at its peak than any other star in the night sky, and all the planets (other than Venus), with apparent magnitude −2.5.
The supernova is first observed in northern Italy on October 9, 1604.
Johannes Kepler begins observing it on October 17.
It will subsequently be 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).
It is the second supernova to be observed in a generation (after SN 1572 seen by Tycho Brahe in Cassiopeia).
No further supernovae have since been observed with certainty in the Milky Way, though many others outside our galaxy have been seen.
The supernova remnant resulting from this supernova is considered to be one of the "prototypical" objects of its kind, and is still an object of much study in astronomy.
Images
Johannes Kepler's original drawing depicting the location of the stella nova, marked with an N (8 grid squares down, 4 over from the left).
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