Did a supernova mark the birth of the Merry Monarch?
Monday, April 18, 2011 - 14:31
in Astronomy & Space
The supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is the relic of the explosion of a massive star that took place around 11,000 years ago and is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky. Oddly, although the light from the explosion should have reached the Earth in the seventeenth century and been easily visible in the sky, it appears to have gone unnoticed. Now astronomers and historians argue that the supernova was seen – as a ‘new’ star visible during the day at the birth of the future King Charles II of Great Britain.