Oldest Recorded Supernova

Source: NASA

I was listening to the "Stuff you should know" podcast when I was driving to work, and heard the story about supernovae. The host of the podcast says that the oldest recorded supernova is Supernova 86. I looked it up on the Web, and yes, NASA has a Web page about it and states,

Chinese astronomers witnessed the event in 185 A.D., documenting a mysterious 'guest star' that remained in the sky for eight months.

The Wikipedia page about it (SN 185 about RCW 86) has the exactly the quote in the Chinese record, 

《後漢書·卷十二·天文下》：'中平二年十月癸亥，客星出南門中，大如半筵，五色喜怒稍小，至後年六月消。占曰：‘為兵。’至六年，司隸校尉袁紹 誅滅中官，大將軍 部曲將 吳匡 攻殺 車騎將軍 何苗，死者數千人。

and an English translation about the quote,

In the 2nd year of the epoch Zhongping, the 10th month, on the day Guihai (i.e., December 7, 185 AD), a 'guest star' appeared in the middle of the Southern Gate (i.e., an asterism consisting of ε Centauri and α Centauri), The size was half a bamboo mat. It displayed various colors, both pleasing and otherwise.It gradually lessened. In the 6th month of the succeeding year it disappeared.

Our Sun will eventually go "supernova" (although after a very long time (a billion years. Also stronomers think that our Sun is too small to go "supernova", but our Sun will die). It makes me wonder about the fate of the humanity. Well, perhaps, the humanity has long destroyed itself (by a nuclear war) before that; or perhaps, the humanity has found an eventual peace and has mastered the technology to find a new home ...

Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter at Night Sky

Stepping out at this Friday night, I happened to see a few bright astronomical bodies in the night sky.  A striking view was that Saturn, Moon, and Jupiter were lined up in an almost straight line. Can you spot the two planets and the Moon in this low-quality cellphone photo?

 

It also happened that above my head were two bright stars, Altair and Vega that were supposedly separated by the Milky Way -- I say "supposedly" because the Milky Way wasn't visible at all in this light-polluted city park. In both western and eastern folklore and cultures, these two have had interesting histories and stories that often inspire romances. In Chinese folklore, Altair and Vega are a couple whose love are banished. Against all odds, Altair and two nearby but much darker stars β-Aquilae and γ-Aquilae at one side of the river, i.e., the Milky way are meeting his wife and the children's mother, the Weaving girl, Vega at the other side of the river. I wish I had had taken a photo of these beloved stars.