Before even looking for potential problems in the astronomical last sentence of the passage, skeptics point out at least two discrepancies in the dating: Pope Stephen IX became Pope in 1057, not 1058, and Emperor Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor was born in 1017, 39 and not 49 years before 1058, his reign having started in 1039 (as King of the Romans, then as emperor of the Romans from 1046 after Pope Clement II consecrated him during his brief pontificate). Henry III died in 1056, and his reign did not overlap with Stephen IX's papacy. It seems likely that the text underwent various alterations, as its date format uses a mix of Roman and Arabic numerals (the number 1058 is for instance written as Ml8) which was common in the 15th century when the Cronaca Rampona was assembled, but not in the 11th century when the events occurred.
Even assuming that the stated event nevertheless corresponds to May or June 1054, and that it describes a conjunction between the already visible supernova and the moon, a final problem arises: the moon did not pass very close to the location of the supernova during two those months.
It is therefore possible that the account instead describes an approach or a concealment of a planet by the Moon, contemporary to the date written in the document (1058). This scenario is corroborated by two perfectly dated contemporary documents which describe a conjunction and a planetary concealment by the Moon in relatively similar terms. These two documents, unearthed by Robert Russell Newton,
The relevant passage translated from the Armenian manuscript reads:
Vahe Gurzadyan's proposal connecting the Hayton of Corycus's chronicle with Cronaca Rampona and SN 1054 dates to 2012.
McCarthy and Breen (1997) proposed an entry in several Irish annals as a possible European sighting of the supernova. In 1955, optical engineer and amateur archaeologist William C. Miller proposed that this represents a conjunction between the moon and the supernova, made possible by the fact that, seen from the Earth, the supernova occurred in the path of the Ecliptic. On the morning of 5 July, the moon was located in the immediate proximity of the supernova, and this proximity might have been represented in these paintings. This theory is compatible with the uncertain dating of these paintings but cannot be confirmed. The dating of the paintings is extremely imprecise (between the 10th and 12th century), and only one of them shows the crescent moon with the correct orientation in relation to the supernova on the date of the explosion. Moreover, this type of drawing could well represent a proximity of the moon with Venus or Jupiter.
Another, better known document was updated during the 1970s at the Chaco Canyon site (New Mexico), occupied around 1000 AD by the Ancestral Pueblo Peoples. On the flat underside of an overhang, it represents a hand, below which there is a crescent moon facing a star at the bottom-left. On the wall underneath the petroglyph there is a drawing which could be the core and tail of a comet. Apart from the petroglyph, which could represent the configuration of the moon and supernova on the morning of 5 July 1054, this period corresponds to the apogee of the Ancestral Pueblo civilization. It seems possible to propose an interpretation of the other petroglyph, which, if it is more recent than the other one, could possibly correspond to the passing of Halley's Comet in 1066. Although plausible, this interpretation is impossible to confirm and does not explain why it was the supernova of 1054 that was represented, rather than the supernova of 1006, which was brighter and also visible to this civilisation.
Suggested records in Aboriginal oral tradition
The Aboriginal people of the region around Ooldea have passed in oral tradition a detailed account of their mythology of the constellation Orion and the Pleiades. The anthropologist Daisy Bates was the first to attempt to compile records of this story. Work done by her and others has shown that all of the protagonists of the story of Nyeeruna and the Yugarilya correspond to individual stars covering the region around Orion and the Pleiades, with the exception of Baba, the father dingo, which is a major protagonist of the story and of the yearly re-enactments of the myth by the local people:
It has been suggested by Leaman and Hamacher that the location usually assigned to Baba by the locals (recorded by Bates as being at the "horn of the bull") is more likely to correspond to SN 1054 than to a faint star of that region such as β or ζ Tauri. This is motivated by the reference to Babba "returning to his place again" after attacking Nyeeruna which could refer to a transient star, as well as the fact that important characters of the myth are associated with bright stars. However, Leaman and Hamacher clarify there is no solid evidence to support this interpretation, which remains speculative. Hamacher demonstrates the extreme difficulty in identifying supernovae in Indigenous oral traditions.
Other elements of the story which have been found to correspond to astronomical elements by these authors include: awareness by the Aboriginal people of the different colors of the stars, possible awareness of the variability of Betelgeuse, observations of meteors in the Orionid meteor shower and the possibility that the rite associated with the myth is held at a time of astronomical significance, corresponding to the few days in the year when due to the Sun's proximity to Orion, it is unseen throughout the night, but is always in the sky during the daytime.
Media references
The supernova is mentioned in Ayreon's song "To the Quasar", from the album Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator. SN 1054 and the lack of European recordings of the event is also mentioned in the historical novel Space by James A. Michener. The popular science book Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson uses SN 1054 to illustrate the relationships between religion, philosophy and human interpretations of astronomical events. The guest star of 1054 is also mentioned in the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris.
See also
- Lists of astronomical objects
- History of supernova observation
Notes
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