Tycho Brahe's Supernova: Light from Centuries Past

The light curve of SN 1572 is described in the terms used nowadays to characterize Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). By assembling the records of the observations done in 1572-1574 and evaluating their uncertainties, it is possible to recover the light curve and the color evolution of this supernova. It is found that within the SN Ia family, the event should have been an SN Ia with a normal rate of decline, its stretch factor being s~0.9. The visual light curve near maximum, late-time decline, and color evolution sustain this conclusion. After correcting for extinction, the luminosity of this supernova as observed at maximum is found to be M_V=-19.24-5log(D/3.0kpc)+/-0.42. From stretch fitting of the overall light curve, the maximum in V would imply a luminosity difference of +0.17+/-0.1 mag, with the maximum brightness of an s=1 SN Ia. The quantity M_V is consistent with a distance of 2.8+/-0.4 kpc for the scale of H₀=65 km s^-1 Mpc^-1.