According to records, the supernova looked like a new star in the constellation Cassiopeia<\/a> and shone as bright as the planet Saturn.<\/p> Having an historical record of an astronomical event from 1181 is a gift to astronomers and historians of astronomy, but could it be possible to find the remnants of the supernova today, using our fleet of powerful telescopes?<\/p> It was initially thought that the supernova remnant could be the nebula<\/a> located around pulsar 3C 58.<\/p> Pulsars<\/a> are the dense core of collapsed stars, so this looked like a possibility, but analysis showed the pulsar is even older than the supernova SN 1181.<\/p> Pa 30, pictured above, was identified as another contender for the SN 1181 crown.<\/p> This nebula is beautifully circular and boasts a central star located in Cassiopeia.<\/p> The image of the nebula shown here is a composite using data from several telescopes, and astronomers say this is the remnant of supernova SN 1181.<\/p> Observing this image means we’re looking at the same object that was seen by stargazers over 800 years ago.<\/p> The image of SN 1181 was captured by ESA\u2019s XMM-Newton spacecraft (data in blue), showing the full extent of the nebula, and NASA\u2019s Chandra X-ray Observatory (cyan), highlighting its central source.<\/p> These telescopes are able to see what the human eye cannot: the nebula is barely visible in optical light but shines brightly in infrared<\/a>, seen in red and pink data collected by NASA\u2019s Wide-field Infrared Space Explorer.<\/p> The spokes in green appearing to emanate from the centre of the nebula are heated sulphur glowing in visible light, observed with the ground-based Hiltner 2.4 m telescope at the MDM Observatory in Arizona, USA.<\/p> Background stars were captured by Pan-STARRS in Hawaii, USA.<\/p> Studies of the composition of the different parts of the supernova remnant can even tell astronomers what type of explosion occurred.<\/p> The explosion, they say, was a thermonuclear explosion, a type of supernova called a sub-luminous Type Iax event.<\/p>Capturing and studying SN 1181<\/strong><\/h2>
![\"SN](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/04\/supernova-sn-1181-xray-1024x963.jpg?fit=800%2C752\")
![\"SN](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/04\/supernova-sn-1181-sulphur-1024x963.jpg?fit=800%2C752\")