Summary: Researchers argue that a line in Ibn Sanāʾ al‑Mulk’s 1181 poem praising Saladin may record a bright new star observed over Cairo. Literary and historical analysis dates the sighting to 1181–1182 and places it near the region now associated with Cassiopeia. Modern telescopes have identified the supernova remnant Pa 30 in Cassiopeia (~10,100 ly), and Chinese records describing a guest star visible for 185 days (Aug 6, 1181–Feb 6, 1182) reinforce the identification.
A Poet’s Star: 12th‑Century Arabic Verse May Record a Supernova Seen Above Cairo
Summary: Researchers argue that a line in Ibn Sanāʾ al‑Mulk’s 1181 poem praising Saladin may record a bright new star observed over Cairo. Literary and historical analysis dates the sighting to 1181–1182 and places it near the region now associated with Cassiopeia. Modern telescopes have identified the supernova remnant Pa 30 in Cassiopeia (~10,100 ly), and Chinese records describing a guest star visible for 185 days (Aug 6, 1181–Feb 6, 1182) reinforce the identification.
09:26 AM, 11/15/2025Science
A Poet’s Star: Literary Evidence for a 12th‑Century Supernova
When the 12th‑century secretary and poet Ibn Sanāʾ al‑Mulk composed verse in praise of Saladin in 1181, he likely intended to flatter a powerful ruler. Centuries later, however, a multidisciplinary team of researchers has argued that one line of that poem may preserve an eyewitness report of an extraordinary celestial event — a supernova visible above Cairo.
From Courtly Praise to Astronomical Clue
The new interpretation, published this year in Astronomical Notes, brings together experts in Islamic studies, history, and astrophysics. The scholars analyze the poem’s language and historical context — including references to Saladin and his brother Saphadin, who were in Egypt between 1181 and May 1182, and to Saladin’s forces protecting Mecca from a Crusader attack in December 1181 — to narrow the likely timeframe for the observation.
Translated line: “May the stars sacrifice themselves for the son of Ayyub [Saladin], for they are his servants and thereby sacrifice themselves for the master.”
Another translated passage — “now even the stars [anjum] in the sky have increased in number” — is read by the researchers as an eyewitness reference to an unusually bright new object in the night sky.
Matching Poetic Imagery to a Modern Remnant
Medieval Arabic astronomical nomenclature placed the new star near al‑Kaff al‑Khabīb (the “dyed hand”), a region that corresponds roughly to the modern constellation Cassiopeia. Telescopic observations in recent decades have identified a supernova remnant called Pa 30 in Cassiopeia, about 10,100 light‑years away. Pa 30 shows long, radiating filaments like spokes around a central white dwarf and contains one of the hottest known stellar remnants in the Milky Way — features consistent with a violent, luminous stellar explosion.
Independent East Asian records strengthen the case: Chinese chronicles report a bright guest star visible for 185 days, from August 6, 1181, to February 6, 1182. That span overlaps the dating deduced from the Arabic poem, making the combined literary and astronomical evidence mutually supportive.
Why This Matters
Most supernovas occur too far away to be seen without telescopes, so modern astronomers often rely on historical observations to link recorded sightings to known remnants. In this instance, a courtly poem may function like a time‑stamped observation, helping to connect the historical sighting known as “Supernova 1181” with today’s remnant Pa 30. The study demonstrates how literary texts, when analyzed alongside historical records and modern observations, can contribute valuable data to astrophysics.
Sources and further reading: The researchers’ paper in Astronomical Notes, analyses of Pa 30, and East Asian historical chronicles. The story was originally featured on Nautilus.