Identification of the guest star of AD 185 as a comet rather than a supernova
Identification of the guest star of AD 185 as a comet rather than a supernova
复制标题
确认公元 185 年的客星为彗星而非超新星
作者：
Y. Chin;Y.
很少有附近的超新星足够明亮，可以用肉眼看到。本世纪唯一的一次这样的情况是超新星1987 A。将这些事件的历史记录与目前可观测到的遗迹相匹配，可以准确估计超新星的年龄和发生率;中国古代天文记录是这方面特别宝贵的资源。后汉《后汉书》记载，公元185年有一位“星星”出现。这被广泛认为是历史上记录到的最古老的超新星，并且已经发现了几个候选的遗迹，特别是RCW 862。在这里，我们表明，在后汉书的相关段落的重新解释是不一致的超新星的解释，而是建议，客人星星是一颗彗星。我们的研究结果表明，中国天文学家在历史记录中使用的一些关键词必须谨慎解释。
VERY few nearby supernovae have been bright enough to see with the naked eye. The only such case this century was supernova 1987A. Matching historical records of such events with presently observable remnants allows accurate estimates to be made of the age and incidence rate of supernovae; ancient Chinese astronomical records are a particularly valuable resource for this purpose. The Houhanshu1 of the Later Han dynasty records the appearance of a 'guest star' in AD 185. This is widely regarded as the oldest supernova recorded historically, and several candidate remnants have been suggested2,3, in particular the object RCW862. Here we show that a reinterpretation of the relevant passage in the Houhan-shu is inconsistent with the supernova interpretation, but suggests instead that the guest star was a comet. Our findings indicate that some of the keywords used by Chinese astronomers in historical records must be interpreted with caution.