Cosmic Vision: Witnessing Fireworks

Accounts of occasional celestial spectacular events in past centuries have provided crucial information for modern-day astrophysicists. One such example is the so-called Great Eruption of Eta Carinae which was for a time in the mid 19th century the third brightest object in the night sky. Interpretation of the spectacular structure of this so-called supernova imposter would be hard without information from eye-witnesses of days gone by. A lecture by Katherine Blundell OBE 18 November The ...