From Mica
Hamlet's Supernova: The 1572 Explosion in Cassiopeia
BARNARDO: Last night of all,
When yond same star that's westward from the pole
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one,--
The star to which Barnardo refers here is probably in fact Tycho's Supernova, which exploded in 1572, when Shakespeare would have been a lad of 8 -- or so claim three researchers from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University). In this talk, I'll show you what the supernova would have looked like to the young Shakespeare, and why the star Barnardo is talking about is in fact the 1572 supernova. I'll also explain more about the supernova -- what happened, what sort of star was it that exploded, how the explosion happened, and what we see if we look there now.
Media
Slides (PDF format)