In relation to the stars....perfect and unchanging

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News Article:

 

Dec 4, 2008

NEW YORK – More than 400 years after Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe challenged

established wisdom about the heavens by analyzing a strange new light in the

sky, scientists say they've finally nailed down just what he saw.

It's no big surprise. Scientists have known the light

came from a supernova, a huge star explosion. But what kind of supernova?

A new study confirms that, as expected, it was the

common kind that involves the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf star with

a nearby companion.

The research, which analyzed a " light echo "

from the long-ago event, is presented in Thursday's issue of the

journal Nature by scientists in Germany, Japan and the Netherlands.

The

story of what's commonly called Tycho's supernova began on Nov. 11,

1572, when Brahe was astonished to see what he thought was a brilliant

new star in the constellation Cassiopeia. The light eventually became

as bright as Venus and could be seen for two weeks in broad daylight.

After 16 months, it disappeared.

Working

before telescopes were invented, Brahe documented with precision that

unlike the moon and the planets, the light's position didn't move in

relation to the stars. That meant it lay far beyond the moon. That was

a shock to the contemporary view that the distant heavens were perfect

and unchanging.

The event inspired

Brahe to commit himself further to studying the stars, launching a

career of meticulous observations that helped lay the foundations of

early modern astronomy, said Michael Shank, a professor of the history of

science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

The

direct light from the supernova swept past Earth long ago. But some of

it struck dust clouds in deep space, causing them to brighten. That

" light echo " was still observable, and the new study was based on

analyzing the wavelengths of light from that.

 

 

  " " " 'Three things that cannot be long hidden: the Sun, the Moon and the truth "  

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