Astronomers solve 900-year-old cosmic mystery surrounding Chinese supernova of 1181AD

[Still Waters]

A 900-year-old cosmic mystery surrounding the origins of a famous supernova first spotted over China in 1181 AD has finally been solved, according to an international team of astronomers.

New research published today (September 15, 2021) says that a faint, fast expanding cloud (or nebula), called Pa30, surrounding one of the hottest stars in the Milky Way, known as Parker's Star, fits the profile, location and age of the historic supernova.

There have only been five bright supernovae in the Milky Way in the last millennium (starting in 1006). Of these, the Chinese supernova, which is also known as the "Chinese Guest Star" of 1181 AD has remained a mystery. It was originally seen and documented by Chinese and Japanese astronomers in the 12th century who said it was as bright as the planet Saturn and remained visible for six months. They also recorded an approximate location in the sky of the sighting, but no confirmed remnant of the explosion has even been identified by modern astronomers. The other four supernovae are all now well known to modern day science and include the famous Crab nebula

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-astronomers-year-old-cosmic-mystery-chinese.html

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The Remnant and Origin of the Historical Supernova 1181 AD

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ac2253

[Tom1200]

If it's a 'nine hundred-year-old mystery' - shouldn't they be looking for something that happened in 1121?  Either that or tell the truth - it's really an 'eight hundred and forty-year-old mystery' which actually rounds off to eight hundred.  Little wonder nobody trusts astronomers if they're always exaggerating like that.