New Delhi: To carve something in stone means you want it to last forever. How long is forever? Does 5000 years sound long enough?
Scientists recently found the oldest evidence of a supernova, carved on a stone… a 5000-year-old stone! This stone was found in a rock wall in Jammu Kasmir, India.
The images carved on the stone show two bright objects in the sky below which a hunting scene is depicted.
The images are originally assumed to be those born from the carver’s imagination or perhaps an image having mythological connotations. The site where this stone was found, dates back to around 2100 BC.
In a research conducted by Astrophysicist Mayank Vahia and his colleagues at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, they found that the supernova depicted on the stone is that of one which occurred between 4100 and 2100 BC.
Further research shows that a supernova dubbed “HB9” had occurred around 3600 BC, and it is concluded that it is highly likely that this is the same supernova that has been carved onto the stone.
Vahia and his colleagues, apparently, just guessed that the image on the stone was that of a supernova.
