| Last updated | 2008 August 15 |
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| Posted | 2008 August 01 |
| Finished | 2008 August |
| Started | 2005 August |
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| Length | 00:07:55 |
| License |
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In 1572, a star with the brightness of Venus appeared in the constellation of Cassiopeia. A second one followed in Ophiuchus in 1604. Both faded away within a few months of being seen, seemingly restoring Heaven to its eternally unchanging state...
...but change had been sparked on Earth, where the new stars had caught the attention of the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. They recorded their observations for posterity in the form of two books, titled De nova et nullius aevi memoria prius visa stella and De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii. Three centuries after Cassiopeia changed, the scientists who followed in their footsteps began to grasp the true nature of a "new star" and the frightening power that it unleashed.
Nancy.R