Saturday Scenes

On the 30th of April in the year 1006, the Supernova SN 1006 appeared in the constellation of Lupus.

SN 1006 was the brightest stellar event in recorded history. It was recorded all over the world, with observers “as far north as the Monastery of Sankt Gallen” in Switzerland, a location regularly featured in SatScenes by @raumsinn, @vaxanta and others! The “guest star” was low in the sky and was extremely bright – some said as bright as a quarter moon. It was bright enough to cast shadows in Cairo when it rose above the horizon and at its peak it was clearly visible during the day.

We have clear descriptions of the supernova from China, Egypt, Iraq, Japan, Switzerland and possibly North America.

Why possibly? Well, this piece of ancient rock art discovered in Arizona was claimed to be a depiction of the supernova along with the constellation Scorpius. (Photo by John Barentine, Apache Point Observatory)

But Sky and Telescope are not convinced.

Did Ancient Americans Record a Supernova? – News from Sky & Telescope – SkyandTelescope.com

“Having looked at the White Tanks rock art panel, I am appalled,” says Edwin C. Krupp, Director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and author of Archaeoastronomy and the Roots of Science. “Panels like this are not rare. There is no reason to link it to any supernova event. There is nothing persuasive about the imagery to support the extraordinarily detailed claim. The authors say nothing about all of the other imagery on the boulder and select two details for their discussion. These two details are in themselves dubiously interpreted.”

“This Supernova 1006 petroglyph interpretation is nothing but assumptions and wishful thinking,” he adds.

So I guess the lesson is: When you wish upon a star, make sure it’s not a supernova.

Over one thousand years later, on the 30th of April of 2011, thirty-three sensational SatSceners snapped and submitted the following scrumptious scenes:

And the salubrious snapshotters who submitted them:

• pendrift
• CarolineBignell
• fembat
• JanetIsserlis
• Pewari
• carocat
• RyanosaurusRex
• sparc
• raumsinn
• sahfenn
• fluttabyz
• akrabat
• DorindaDorinda
• ernmander
• UKMelia
• akaSylvia
• icklemouse
• robdavies
• rOcKeTmAn_76
• dudleypj
• twasntme
• noirem
• ingridf
• evenstar84
• timewind
• dlewis1701
• drewbenn
• vaxanta
• tradingnothing
• elibrody
• DaughterofLir
• jamesnnb
• RacingHippo

Saturday Scenes is a great way to see the world from someone else’s point of view! Taking part is easy:

1. Take a photograph on a Saturday
2. Send it to @SatScenes on Twitter
3. Wait for the webpage to get updated
4. Oooh and aah over all the great submissions from all over the world!

So take a photograph this weekend and send it to @SatScenes!