THE GUEST STAR
Before dawn one day in the spring of 1054, astronomers in China were amazed to see a bright new star on the horizon, just under the rising crescent moon. They carefully noted its exact location, near the star Tianguan (in the constellation we call Taurus, the bull). The new star was six times brighter than Venus and lit up a patch of sky nearly the size of the full moon. They watched it intently as the weeks went by, wondering what it meant. Did it foretell some grand or terrible event? They kept exact records, just in case.
They called the visitor a guest star, as they would a comet. But they knew this was no comet. It wasn’t moving.
