More than 400 years after Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe challenged established wisdom about the heavens by analyzing a strange new light in the sky, scientists say they’ve finally nailed down just what he saw. It’s no big surprise. Scientists have known the light came from a supernova, a huge star explosion. But what kind of supernova? A new study confirms that, as expected, it was the common kind that involves the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf star with a nearby companion.
