The Supernova of 1054 A.D.

Who Observed it and When

On July 4, 1054 A.D. a supernova appeared in the sky.  It must have been a spectacular sight to those ancient sky watchers.  Outshining the most brilliant stars in the heavens, it was even seen during daylight.  Although such a brilliant object must have been seen by many around the world, what we know of this event comes mainly from the ancient Chinese chronicles.

What we now know as Messier 1, or the Crab Nebula, is the remnant of this supernova explosion.  Although this nebula was discovered in 1731 by John Bevis, an amateur astronomer, and then independently rediscovered by Charles Messier in 1758, it was not until professional astronomers Hubble (1928) and Mayall (1939) wrote papers suggesting that the Chinese "guest star" of 1054 A.D. be interpreted as the supernova associated with the Crab Nebula.  Since then, exhaustive searches to find historic corroborating references in the world literature have taken place.

In 1975, an amateur astronomer named George DeLange, while exploring a remote canyon in central Arizona discovered a collection of petroglyphs on the canyon wall.   At the base of the canyon wall he found some large boulders with very unique petroglyphs on them.  At first glance, they appear to be of various interesting geometric designs.  Although not readily apparent, to the eye and mind of an astronomer, the figures began to make some sense and George interpreted these to represent the supernova of 1054 A.D.  After further study, I concur with George's interpretation and also believe that this collection of unique petroglyphs is one of the earliest records of this celestial event.  It may also show that the supernova was observed possibly 5 weeks before the July 4, 1054 date as recorded in the ancient Chinese chronicles.