Editing Kepler's Supernova

{{Short description|Supernova visible from Earth in the 17th century in Ophiuchus}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox supernova
| caption= A [[false-color]] [[Digital compositing|composite]] ([[Chandra X-ray Observatory|CXO]]/[[Hubble Space Telescope|HST]]/[[Spitzer Space Telescope]]) image of the supernova remnant nebula from SN 1604
| type = [[Type Ia supernovae|Ia]]<ref name="chandra">{{cite web
  | title = Chandra X-Ray Observatory
  | work = Kepler's Supernova Remnant: A Star's Death Comes to Life
  | url = http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/kepler/index.html
  | access-date = 16 January 2006 }}</ref><ref name = "Reynolds2007"/>
| epoch = J2000
| SNRtype = Shell
| host = [[Milky Way]]
| ra = {{RA|17|30|42}}
| dec = {{DEC|−21|29}}
| gal = G4.5+6.8
| discovery = 8–9 October 1604
| iauc =
| mag_v  = −2.25 to −2.5
| distance = Less than {{convert|20000|ly|kpc|lk=on}}
| progenitor = [[White dwarf]]&ndash;[[red giant]] double star system
| progenitor_type = Type Ia supernova
| b-v = Unknown
| notes = Latest observed supernova<br>in the [[Milky Way]].<br>Maintained naked-eye<br>visibility for 18 months.
| predecessor = [[SN 1572]]
| successor = [[Cassiopeia A]] (unobserved, {{circa|1680}}), [[G1.9+0.3]] (unobserved, {{circa|1868}}), [[SN 1885A]] (next observed)
}}
'''SN 1604''', also known as '''Kepler's Supernova''', '''Kepler's Nova''' or '''Kepler's Star''', was a [[Type Ia supernova]]<ref name="chandra"/><ref name = "Reynolds2007">{{Cite journal | last1 = Reynolds | first1 = S. P. | last2 = Borkowski | first2 = K. J. | last3 = Hwang | first3 = U. | last4 = Hughes | first4 = J. P. | last5 = Badenes | first5 = C. | last6 = Laming | first6 = J. M. | last7 = Blondin | first7 = J. M. | date = 2 October 2007 | title = A Deep ''Chandra'' Observation of Kepler's Supernova Remnant: A Type Ia Event with Circumstellar Interaction | journal = [[The Astrophysical Journal]] | volume = 668 | issue = 2 | pages = L135–L138 | doi = 10.1086/522830 |doi-access=free|arxiv = 0708.3858 |bibcode = 2007ApJ...668L.135R |bibcode-access=free}}</ref> that occurred in the [[Milky Way]], in the [[constellation]] [[Ophiuchus]]. Appearing in 1604, it is the most recent [[supernova]] in the Milky Way galaxy to have been unquestionably observed by the [[naked eye]],<ref>{{cite web|title=APOD: 2013 May 15 – Kepler's Supernova Remnant in X-Rays|url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130515.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410125917/https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130515.html|url-status=live|archive-date=10 April 2019|website=NASA.gov|access-date=23 February 2024}}</ref> occurring no farther than 6 [[kiloparsecs]] (20,000 [[light-year]]s) from [[Earth]]. Before the adoption of the [[Supernova#Naming convention|current naming system for supernovae]], it was named for [[Johannes Kepler]], the German astronomer who described it in ''[[De Stella Nova]]''.

==Observation==
Visible to the naked eye, Kepler's Star was brighter at its peak than any other [[star]] in the [[night sky]], with an [[apparent magnitude]] of −2.5. It was visible during the day for over three weeks. Records of its sighting exist in European, Chinese, Korean, and Arabic sources.<ref>Stephenson, F. Richard & Green, David A., ''Historical Supernovae and their Remnants'', Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2002, pp. 60–71.</ref><ref name="Arabic">{{cite journal|last1=Neuhäuser|first1=Ralph|last2=Rada|first2=Wafiq|last3=Kunitzsch|first3=Paul|last4=Neuhäuser|first4=Dagmar L.|title=Arabic Reports about Supernovae 1604 and 1572 in Rawḥ al-Rūḥ by cĪsā b. Luṭf Allāh from Yemen|journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy|date=2016|volume=47|issue=4|pages=359–374|doi=10.1177/0021828616669894|bibcode=2016JHA....47..359N|s2cid=125393243}}</ref>
[[File:Kepler Drawing of SN 1604.png|thumb|upright|left|[[Johannes Kepler]]'s original drawing from ''[[De Stella Nova]]'' (1606) depicting the location of the ''stella nova'', marked with an ''N'' (8 grid squares down, 4 over from the left)]]

It was the second supernova to be observed in a generation (after [[SN 1572]] seen by [[Tycho Brahe]] in [[Cassiopeia (constellation)|Cassiopeia]]). No further supernovae have since been observed with certainty in the Milky Way, though many others outside the galaxy have been seen since [[S Andromedae]] in 1885. [[SN 1987A]] in the [[Large Magellanic Cloud]] was visible to the naked eye at night.<ref name=esopic>{{cite web |url=https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0708a/|title=SN1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud |date= 27 February 2019| website=ESO.org |publisher=European Southern Observatory |access-date=25 November 2019 }}</ref>

Evidence exists for two Milky Way supernovae whose electromagnetic radiation would have reached Earth {{abbreviation|c.|circa (about)}} 1680 and 1870 – [[Cassiopeia A]], and [[G1.9+0.3]] respectively. There is no historical record of either having been detected in those years, likely because absorption by [[Cosmic dust|interstellar dust]] obscured their visible light.<ref>{{cite web | title = Chandra X-Ray Observatory | work = Discovery of Most Recent Supernova in Our Galaxy, May 14, 2008 | url = http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/08_releases/press_051408.html | access-date = 2 May 2012}}</ref>

The [[supernova remnant|remnant]] of Kepler's supernova is considered to be one of the prototypical objects of its kind and is still an object of much study in [[astronomy]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/kepler/|title=Chandra :: Photo Album :: Kepler's Supernova Remnant :: September 11, 2012|website=chandra.harvard.edu|access-date=2020-04-12}}</ref>

==Controversies==
Astronomers of the time (including Kepler) were concerned with observing the conjunction of [[Mars]], [[Jupiter]], and [[Saturn]], which they saw as an auspicious conjunction linked to the [[Star of Bethlehem#Planetary conjunction|Star of Bethlehem]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mosley |first1=John |title=Common Errors in "Star of Bethlehem" Planetarium Shows |url=https://www.ips-planetarium.org/page/a_mosley1981 |website=www.ips-planetarium.org |publisher=International Planetarium Society |access-date=4 March 2025 |language=en |date=1981}}</ref> However, cloudy weather prevented Kepler from making observations.  [[Wilhelm Fabry]], [[Michael Maestlin]], and [[Helisaeus Roeslin]] were able to make observations of the conjunction on 9 October, but did not record the supernova.<ref name="BG">{{cite journal|last1=Burke-Gaffney|first1=W.|title=Kelper and the Star of Bethlehem|journal=Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada|date=1937|volume=31|pages=417–425|url=http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1937JRASC..31..417B&defaultprint=YES&filetype=.pdf|access-date=21 January 2018|bibcode=1937JRASC..31..417B}}</ref> The first recorded observation in Europe was by [[Lodovico delle Colombe]] in northern Italy on 9 October 1604.<ref>Delle Colombe L., ''Discorso di Lodovico Delle Colombe nel quale si dimostra che la nuova Stella apparita l'Ottobre passato 1604 nel Sagittario non è Cometa, ne stella generata, ò creata di nuovo, ne apparente: ma una di quelle che furono da principio nel cielo; e ciò esser conforme alla vera Filosofia, Teologia, e Astronomiche dimostrazioni'', Firenze, Giunti, 1606.</ref> Kepler was only able to begin his observations on 17 October while working at the imperial court in [[Prague]] for [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Rudolf II]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/~wpb/Kepler/kepler.html |title=Bill Blair's Kepler's Supernova Remnant Page |access-date=7 October 2009 |archive-date=16 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316154134/http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/~wpb/Kepler/kepler.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>  The supernova was subsequently named after him, even though he was not its first observer, as his observations tracked the object for an entire year. These observations were described in his book ''[[De Stella Nova|De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii]]'' ("On the new star in Ophiuchus's foot", Prague 1606).

===Delle Colombe–Galileo controversy===
In 1606, Delle Colombe published ''Discourse of Lodovico delle Colombe'' in which he shows that the "Star Newly Appeared in October 1604 is neither a Comet nor a New Star" and where he defended an [[On the Heavens|Aristotelian view]] of [[cosmology]] after [[Galileo Galilei]] had used the occasion of the supernova to challenge the Aristotelian system.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k316468t.image |title=Discorso di Lodovico delle Colombe |language=it |first=Lodovico |last=delle Colombe |year=1606}}</ref> The description of Galileo's claims is as follows:

<blockquote>Galileo explained the meaning and relevance of [[parallax]], reported that the nova displayed none, and concluded, as a certainty, that it lay beyond the moon. Here he might have stopped, having dispatched his single arrow. Instead he sketched a theory that ruined the Aristotelian cosmos: the nova very probably consisted of a large quantity of airy material that issued from the earth and shone by reflected sunlight, like Aristotelian comets. Unlike them, however, it could rise beyond the moon. It not only brought change to the heavens, but did so provocatively by importing corruptible earthy elements into the pure quintessence. That raised heaven-shattering possibilities. The interstellar space might be filled with something similar to our atmosphere, as in the physics of the Stoics, to which Tycho had referred in his lengthy account of the nova of 1572. And if the material of the firmament resembled that of bodies here below, a theory of motion built on experience with objects within our reach might apply also to the celestial regions. "But I am not so bold as to think that things cannot take place differently from the way I have specified."<ref>Heilbron, John L. (2010). ''Galileo''. Oxford University Press, p. 120.</ref></blockquote>

===Kepler–Roeslin controversy===
In Kepler's ''De Stella Nova'' (1606), he criticized Roeslin concerning this supernova. Kepler argued that in his [[astrology|astrological]] prognostications, Roeslin had picked out just the two comets, the [[Great Comet of 1556]] and 1580. Roeslin responded in 1609 that this was indeed what he had done. When Kepler replied later that year, he simply observed that by including a broader range of data Roeslin could have made a better argument.<ref name="Fritz">{{cite web|last1=Fritz|first1=Gerd|title=Dialogical Structures in 17th Century Controversies|url=http://www.festschrift-gerd-fritz.de/files/publ_hp/fritz_dialogical_structures.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.festschrift-gerd-fritz.de/files/publ_hp/fritz_dialogical_structures.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|website=www.festschrift-gerd-fritz.de|publisher=Gerd fritz|access-date=21 January 2018}}</ref>

== Supernova remnant ==
[[File:Kepler's Supernova Remnant- A Star's Death Comes to Life (2941498208).jpg|right|thumb|X-ray image of SN 1604 from the [[Chandra X-ray Observatory]]]]
The supernova remnant of SN 1604, Kepler's Star, was discovered in 1941 at the [[Mount Wilson Observatory]] as a dim nebula with a brightness of 19 [[Magnitude (astronomy)|mag]].<ref name="baade">{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1086/144505|title = Nova Ophiuchi of 1604 AS a Supernova|year = 1943|last1 = Baade|first1 = W.|journal = The Astrophysical Journal|volume = 97|page = 119|bibcode = 1943ApJ....97..119B|doi-access = free}}</ref> Only filaments can be seen in visible light, but it is a strong radio and X-ray source. Its diameter is 4 arc min. Distance estimates place it between 3 and more than 7 kiloparsecs (10,000 to 23,000 lightyears),<ref name="patnaude12">{{cite journal |doi=10.1088/0004-637X/756/1/6 |arxiv=1206.6799|title=The Origin of Kepler's Supernova Remnant|year=2012|last1=Patnaude|first1=Daniel J.|last2=Badenes|first2=Carles|last3=Park|first3=Sangwook|last4=Laming|first4=J. Martin|journal=The Astrophysical Journal|volume=756|issue=1|page=6|bibcode=2012ApJ...756....6P|s2cid=119104810}}</ref> with the current consensus being a distance of {{val|5|1|u=kpc}}, as of 2021.<ref name=Kasuga_et_al_2021/>

The available evidence supports a [[type Ia supernova]] as the source of this remnant,<ref name="chandra"/> which is the result of a carbon-oxygen [[white dwarf]] interacting with a companion star.<ref name=Chiotellis_et_al_2020/> The integrated X-ray spectrum resembles that of [[Tycho's supernova remnant]], a type Ia supernova. The abundance of oxygen relative to iron in the remnant of SN 1604 is roughly solar, whereas a [[Core-collapse supernova|core-collapse scenario]] should produce a much higher abundance of oxygen. No surviving central source has been identified, which is consistent with a type Ia event. Finally, the historical records for the brightness of this event are consistent with type Ia supernovae.<ref name="chandra"/>

There is evidence for interaction of the supernova ejecta with circumstellar matter from the [[Progenitor|progenitor star]], which is unexpected for type Ia but has been observed in some cases.<ref name="chandra"/> A [[bow shock]] located to the north of this system is believed to have been created by mass loss prior to the explosion.<ref name="patnaude12"/> Observations of the remnant are consistent with the interaction of a supernova with a bipolar [[planetary nebula]] that belonged to one or both of the progenitor stars.<ref name=Chiotellis_et_al_2020>{{cite journal | title=The Interaction of Type Ia Supernovae with Planetary Nebulae: The Case of Kepler's Supernova Remnant | last1=Chiotellis | first1=A. | last2=Boumis | first2=P. | last3=Spetsieri | first3=Z. T. | journal=Galaxies | volume=8 | issue=2 | page=38 | date=May 2020 | doi=10.3390/galaxies8020038 | arxiv=2004.14493 | bibcode=2020Galax...8...38C | doi-access=free }}</ref> The remnant is not spherically symmetric, which is likely due to the progenitor being a [[High-velocity star|runaway star]] system. The bow shock is caused by the interaction of the advancing [[stellar wind]] with the [[interstellar medium]]. A remnant rich in nitrogen and silicon indicates that the system consisted of a white dwarf with an evolved companion that had likely already passed through the [[asymptotic giant branch]] stage.<ref name=Kasuga_et_al_2021>{{cite journal | title=Spatially Resolved RGS Analysis of Kepler's Supernova Remnant | last1=Kasuga | first1=Tomoaki | last2=Vink | first2=Jacco | last3=Katsuda | first3=Satoru | last4=Uchida | first4=Hiroyuki | last5=Bamba | first5=Aya | last6=Sato | first6=Toshiki | last7=Hughes | first7=John P. | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | volume=915 | issue=1 | id=42 | date=July 2021 | page=42 | doi=10.3847/1538-4357/abff4f | arxiv=2105.04235 | bibcode=2021ApJ...915...42K | s2cid=234336681 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of supernova remnants]]
* [[List of supernovae]]
* [[Supernova Early Warning System]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite journal |last1=Blair |first1=William P. |last2=Long |first2=Knox S. |last3=Vancura |first3=Olaf |date=1991 |title=A detailed optical study of Kepler's supernova remnant |journal=Astrophysical Journal |volume=366 |pages=484–494 |doi=10.1086/169583 |doi-access=free |bibcode=1991ApJ...366..484B|bibcode-access=free}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://sne.space/sne/SN1604A/ Light curves] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627002108/https://sne.space/sne/SN1604A/ |date=27 June 2020 }} on the [https://sne.space Open Supernova Catalog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230459/https://sne.space/ |date=3 March 2016 }}
* {{cite web|url=http://spider.seds.org/spider/Vars/sn1604.html|work=spider@SEDS|title=SN1604|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017120708/http://spider.seds.org/spider/Vars/sn1604.html|archive-date=17 October 2013|access-date=16 October 2014}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA7jBJQv7mM Simulation of the movement of the planets around Kepler's supernova in 1604 and 1605]

{{Supernovae}}
{{Johannes Kepler}}
{{Portal bar|Astronomy|Stars|Outer space}}
{{Sky|17|30|38.5|-|21|28|48|20000}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sn 1604}}
[[Category:Ophiuchus]]
[[Category:Supernova remnants]]
[[Category:Johannes Kepler|Supernova]]
[[Category:1604 in science]]
[[Category:1604]]
[[Category:Astronomical objects discovered in 1604|16041009]]
[[Category:Historical supernovae]]
[[Category:3C objects|358]]