Historical Supernovae

Humans have recorded supernovae for centuries. In 1054 AD, Chinese astronomers logged a "guest star" bright enough to see in daylight for 23 days. Its remnant is the Crab Nebula, still expanding today and powered by a spinning neutron star at its center.

Tycho's supernova in 1572 and Kepler's in 1604 lit up the Milky Way and helped reshape astronomy. No supernova has been visible to the naked eye in our galaxy since. The nearest recent one, SN 1987A, exploded in a neighboring galaxy and gave the first detection of neutrinos from a stellar explosion.