On this day: November 6, 1572: Tycho’s supernova was discovered

Science: On November 6, 1572, German astronomer Wolfgang Schuler saw a supernova with his naked eyes. He saw the exploded star in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was as bright as Venus and could be seen even during the day.

Astronomers were really confused, because it seemed like a star had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Schuler may have been the first to see it, but the discovery is widely credited to Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Brahe studied it in detail and wrote an entire book about this so-called “new star.” It then became known as “Tycho’s Star.” At that time, supernovae had not yet been discovered. Tycho’s Star was finally classified as a supernova in the 1940s. Now scientists think it was a supernova.