Historical astronomy

Examples

• One example of such study would be the Crab Nebula, which is the remains of a supernova of July 1054, the SN 1054. During the Northern Song dynasty in China, a historical astronomical record was written, which lists unusual phenomena observed in the night sky. The event was also recorded by Japanese and Arab astronomers. Scholars often associate this with the formation of the Crab Nebula.
• Secondly, The astronomer Edmond Halley employed this science to deduce that three comets that appeared roughly 76 years apart were in fact the same object.
• Similarly, the dwarf planet Pluto was found to have been photographed as early as 1915 although it was not recognized until 1930.
• Quasars have been photographed since the late 19th century although they were not known to be unusual objects until the 1960s.