Watched Days

9 October 1604. A new star appears in Ophiuchus. The first record of it in Europe is Lodovico delle Colombe's, in northern Italy, that same day.

We call it Kepler's Supernova. Kepler didn't see it until 17 October, eight days late, clouds in his way. He got the name because he watched it for a year and wrote De Stella Nova in 1606. Delle Colombe got the date.

It is still the most recent supernova in the Milky Way observed with the naked eye. Visible for 18 months. Nothing since, not once in 422 years.

The record kept the real order. The name didn't.