Evidence of mysterious ‘recurring nova’ that could reappear in 2024 found in medieval manuscript from 1217

Live Science

By Joanna Thompson

September 15, 2023

In 1217, a German monk looked to the starry southwest sky and noticed a normally faint star shining with unusual intensity. It continued to blaze for several days. Abbott Burchard, the leader of Ursberg Abbey at the time, recorded the sight in that year’s chronicle. “A wonderful sign was seen,” he wrote, adding that the mysterious object in the constellation Corona Borealis “shone with great light” for “many days.”