Novas and supernovas are all variable stars created by nova outbursts. During a nova outburst, the brightness may increase over the course of a few days by several thousand or even dozens of thousands of times. Then it will gradually dim, eventually returning to its original brightness after several or dozens of years.

The outbursts of supernovas are even more spectacular, increasing their brightness by up to hundreds of millions of times. The ancient Chinese people named such celestial bodies "guest stars." The earliest record on guest stars in China dates back to as early as in the 14th century BC, about a nova near the αStar on the Scorpio Constellation.

During the period between the Shang Dynasty (16-11th century BC) and the end of the 17th century, 78 novas and especially 12 supernovas were recorded in China's historic books. Such a rich and systematic record of supernovas is unique in the world.

Of all the recorded novas and supernovas, the most brilliant was the supernova near the Tianguan Star in the Taurus constellation, which lasted two years after its outburst.

After the birth of the radio telescope in the 1930s, many scholars in the world, in an effort to search for the correspondence between the radio source in the Milky Way galaxy and the supernova, carried out detailed research on the ancient records on novas and supernovas. It turned out seven of the twelve supernovas recorded by ancient Chinese astronomers correspond to the radio source, which shows the importance of China's records on guest stars to modern astronomic research.

Author: Jessie