On the
11th of November in that year, he was returning home to supper after
a day's work in his laboratory, when he happened to lift his face to
the sky, and there he beheld a brilliant new star. It was in the
constellation of Cassiopeia, and occupied a position in which there
had certainly been no bright star visible when his attention had last
been directed to that part of the heavens. Such a phenomenon was so
startling that he found it hard to trust the evidence of his senses.
He thought he must be the subject of some hallucination. He
therefore called to the servants who were accompanying him, and asked
them whether they, too, could see a brilliant object in the direction
in which he pointed. They certainly could, and thus he became
convinced that this marvellous object was no mere creation of the
fancy, but a veritable celestial body--a new star of surpassing
splendour which had suddenly burst forth. In these days of careful
scrutiny of the heavens, we are accustomed to the occasional outbreak
of new stars. It is not, however, believed that any new star which
has ever appeared has displayed the same phenomenal brilliance as was
exhibited by the star of 1572.
This object has a value in astronomy far greater than it might at
first appear.
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