On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 16:15:47 +0000 (UTC), (Brian Tung)
wrote:

*Without* a telescope? That means not even Shoemaker-Levy 9 is in
play, so you're probably limited to supernovae in our galaxy. So,
Kepler's in 1604, Tycho's in 1572, another one in Cassiopeia in 1181,
the Crab in 1054, Lupus in 1006, and two more reported by the Chinese
in 393 and 183, in Scorpius and Centaurus, respectively.

Not to mention an additional supernova every few centuries going back
many thousands of years, until the observers might reasonably no longer
be considered "human". None of these are precisely dated, of course,
although I'm sure that estimates can be made in some cases where we can
observe planetary nebulas.

All of this depends on whether a supernova actually constitutes a
"death" in the sense the OP had in mind. I prefer to think of them as
transforming events. Certainly, the progenitor star continues its
existence, albeit in a quite different form.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com