Radio-Frequency Radiation from Tycho Brahe's Supernova (A.D. 1572)

Abstract

SINCE the discovery of localized sources of extraterrestrial radio-frequency radiation in 1948¹, surveys have been carried out over the whole sky^2,3, and the positions and intensities of about one hundred sources are now known. Although a few of these sources have been identified with extra-galactic nebulæ^3–5 it is generally considered that the majority must lie within the Galaxy with a distribution, and perhaps a density, similar to that of the common visual stars⁶. However, it has not yet been possible to associate the radio sources with any class of visual objects in the Galaxy, and in only one instance has an identification been made, namely, the identification of a source in Taurus with the Crab nebula⁷. As the Crab nebula is believed to be the remnant of the supernova of 1054, it is to be expected that the remnants of other supernovæ are also sources of radio radiation. The other supernovæ known to have occurred in the Galaxy are those of 1572 and 1604, but the published surveys show no radio source in either of these positions.