A supernova is a STAR that explodes. It suddenly increases in brightness by a factor of many billions, and within a few weeks it slowly fades. In terms of the human lifespan, such explosions are rare occurrences. In our Milky Way galaxy, for example, a supernova may be observed every few hundred years. Three such explosions are recorded in history: in 1054, in 1572, and in 1604. The CRAB NEBULA consists of material ejected by the supernova of 1054. …
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…explosions could have mixed with the solar nebula, eventually becoming part of the structures of the Sun, the Earth, and all living things. Bibliography Bibliography: Clark, D. W., and Stephenson, F. R., eds., Historical Supernovae (1977); Jastrow, Robert, and Thompson, Malcolm, Astronomy (1984); Marschall, Laurence A., The Supernova Story (1988); Murdin, Paul and Leslie, Supernovae (1985); Shy, Frank, The Physical Universe (1982); Woosley, Stan, and Weaver, Tom, "The Great Supernova of 1987," Scientific American, August 1989; Zeilik, Michael, and Gaustad, John, Astronomy (1983).