Chinese astronomers recorded details of dying star's explosion in 1408: study
Emperor Yongle, Chinese court
astronomers spotted a mysterious new star glowing high in the southern sky, near the heart of the Milky Way.
'It was about the size of a cup-shaped oil lamp, with a pure yellow colour, smooth and bright,' according to Hanlin Academy scholar Hu Guang, in a formal report to the emperor that interpreted its appearance as a heavenly endorsement.
'We, your ministers, have encountered this auspicious sign, and respectfully offer our congratulations … This splendid omen is truly a sign of an enlightened era,' Hu wrote, praising the ruler whose sweeping ambition had launched
Zheng He's treasure fleets and extended China's reach as far as Africa.
'The star remained stationary and calm over 10 days of measurement and observation,' he noted, in a rediscovered memorial that has settled a long-standing debate among modern astronomers about the true nature of the 1408 event.
While earlier records were too brief to draw firm conclusions, this official account confirms that the phenomenon was a nova – the slow, temporary brightening caused by a dying star – rather than a comet or meteor flashing through the sky.
The discovery was reported last week by researchers from China, Germany, and Chile in peer-reviewed The Astronomical Journal. The unprecedented details, including the star's size and brightness, also helped the team to narrow down the star's possible position.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
10 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China on Thai-Cambodian conflict; Taiwan recall vote: SCMP daily highlights
Catch up on some of SCMP's biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing China and Europe should foster a 'healthy' economic relationship characterised by both competition and cooperation, the Chinese premier told European Union leaders and businesses on Thursday. China will continue to play a 'constructive role' in helping to ease regional tensions, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday, as Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire on their border for a second day. Chinese researchers have manufactured the world's largest barium gallium selenide (BGSe) crystal, a breakthrough that could pave the way for ultra-high-power laser weapons capable of zapping satellites from the ground.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
‘Obedient' AI partners partly to blame for Hong Kong's low births: lawmaker
A Hong Kong lawmaker has said the rise of 'obedient and caring' virtual partners generated by artificial intelligence is partly to blame for the city's low birth rate, noting such digital companions offer emotional support and lack interpersonal conflicts. Legislator William Wong Kam-fai, who is also a computational linguistics professor, called on the government to promote 'happy learning' in schools and lower the income threshold for public housing to encourage more people to have children. Wong spoke at a motion debate during a Legislative Council meeting on Thursday that centred on how to encourage more childbirths, conceding it was difficult to reverse trends of people staying unmarried and having no children. 'The younger generation would rather keep pets than have children, and now there is also the new challenge of AI companions,' he told the legislature. Wong, who is part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong's systems engineering and engineering management department, said that technology companies had launched 'obedient and caring' AI companions to address the needs of single people. 'These virtual partners not only know how to provide emotional value, but also save [the users] from the troubles of interpersonal conflicts. Their attraction [to people] is self-evident,' he said.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
Chinese team's ultratough aerogel could shield aircraft from new extremes
Chinese scientists have proposed a novel method for producing aerogels that significantly improves their heat resistance and mechanical properties, with potential for use in high-speed aircraft and space exploration, according to a paper published this month in a top journal. Aerogels are lightweight, porous solid materials with extremely low density and exceptional thermal insulation properties. They are widely used for insulation or thermal protection in spacecraft , military equipment and electronics. However, despite their superior insulating abilities, conventional aerogels typically suffer from poor mechanical strength, making them vulnerable to pressure or impact. Researchers from Zhejiang University in eastern China have developed a universal preparation technique that enables the creation of aerogels with an internal dome-like cellular structure. By varying the raw materials, hundreds of formulations can be derived, each exhibiting high elasticity. Their findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Science on July 17. The method, dubbed the '2D channel-confined chemistry' approach, involves the use of nanoscale graphene oxide during production. 'The key lies in the layered assembly process, akin to making a mille-feuille pastry,' explained Xu Zhen, an associate professor at Zhejiang University and one of the paper's corresponding authors.
