The biggest explosion that human beings have ever seen, a supernova is what happens when a star reaches the end of its life and explodes in a brilliant ball of light. In recorded history, there have been less than 10 instances in the Milky Way when a supernova has been observed with the naked eye. One of those was in 1572 and it challenged and changed our existing worldview.
Today, astronomers refer to it by a number of names. The official name given to this supernova is SN 1572, where SN stands for supernova and 1572 corresponds to the year of occurrence. Some astronomers refer to it as B Cassiopeia. Most, however, call it by its informal name – Tycho’s supernova.
