AstroKids › Everything in the sky › Tycho's Supernova
supernova · Milky Way, historic naked-eye event

Tycho's Supernova

In 1572 a new star appeared, bright enough to see in daylight, and then slowly faded — which proved the sky can change! Until then people were taught the stars were fixed forever.

🕒 When can I see it?🚀 Travel there
Tycho's Supernova — Drawn, not photographed.

What it is

1572 naked-eye supernova observed by Tycho Brahe, disproving the idea of unchanging heavens.

Supernova: A star's death explosion, briefly outshining its whole galaxy. Every kind of thing there is →

How to find Tycho's Supernova

Look in the constellation Cassiopeia.

It is best placed all year round if you are north of the equator.

Circumpolar from most northern latitudes. Historic event, no longer naked-eye visible; the remnant now needs professional instruments.

The Planetarium works out where it actually is from your own place and the date — including whether it is above the horizon at all tonight.

Show me Tycho's Supernova in tonight's sky

What you will really see

With your own eyes

Where one exploded, a telescope shows the glowing wreck it left behind.

🖨️ A sheet to print for this
🖨️ Print a sheet and go and look
🖨️ Sheet to take outside →

Worth knowing about Tycho's Supernova

On the 100-meter-track scale model of the Milky Way (see other Milky Way objects), Tycho's Supernova would be about 10 meters from the Sun. Light takes 10 thousand years to get here from Tycho's Supernova, so what you are looking at is Tycho's Supernova as it was 10 thousand years ago.

What it is made of
A Type Ia supernova: not a massive star collapsing, but a white dwarf that was fed too much gas by a companion and detonated. Nothing at all was left behind — no neutron star, no black hole, just the expanding wreck.
How we know: Centuries later its light was caught a second time, reflected off dust clouds off to one side and arriving the long way round. Splitting that echo showed the same fingerprint modern Type Ia supernovae have.
What makes it worth knowing
Tycho Brahe saw a new 'star' that didn't move like a comet, direct evidence against the ancient belief in unchanging heavens.
The numbers
Distance from us~9,800 light-years (estimates range roughly 7,500-13,000 ly)
Found in1572

How anyone knows this

Nobody flew a tape measure out there. Every number on this page was worked out from the ground:

Next to it

Kepler's SupernovasupernovaNaked eyeSN 1987AsupernovaNaked eyeThe Milky Wayspiral galaxyNaked eyeProxima CentauristarWith effortAlpha Centauri A & Bbinary star systemNaked eyeSiriusstarNaked eye
📖 How the Milky Way fits together

Then go outside

Clear tonight? The Planetarium will show you what is worth a look. Then just go out.

🌙 Plan an evening outside🌌 Everything else in the sky