The image above shows an ancient rock carved with what is likely the oldest-known sky chart and depiction of a supernova.

(Tata Institute of Fundamental Research)

At a Glance

An ancient rock carving may be the oldest known sky chart and depiction of a supernova. The carving was discovered in Kashmir, India, at a site dating back to 2100 BC. It initially appeared to be a hunting scene, but scientists believe it is a record of a supernova.

A rock carving recentlydiscovered in Kashmir, India, may be the oldest known sky chart and record of a supernova, researchers say.

Etched into a stone found at a site dating back to 2100 B.C., that are either the sun and moon or two bright stars that are close in proximity, according to a study on the discovery.

Focusing on the celestial objects, a team of scientists at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India reinterpreted the artwork and ruled out the bright pair as being the sun and the moon.

“They cannot be sun and moon since, with such proximity to the sun, the moon would be in a partial phase around the new and hence not very bright,” wrote the researchers.

They determined that one of the objects is likely a supernova.

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and it is the largest explosion that takes place in space, according to NASA.

To back up their suspicions, the researchers looked at all of the remnants of supernovas between 2,000 to 10,000 years old and with known distances and narrowed their findings down to Supernova HB9.

“We suggest that the partially drawn object is HB9 since it would be irregular and that the second bright object is Moon since the apparent magnitude of HB9 is closer to that of the moon,” wrote the researchers.

The image above shows the ancient rock art transferred onto a chart of the night sky.

(Tata Institute of Fundamental Research)

The reinterpretation of the carving also raised the possibility that the hunting scene is actually a sky map of constellations surrounding the moon and supernova that day.

“On the sky chart if we put the partially drawn object at the location of HB9, the image of one of the hunters coincides with the Orion, the central stag is same as the Taurus,” wrote the scientists. “The hunter on the right may have been formed from stars of Cetus and other animal on the right may be Andromeda and Pegasus.”

Though the study had promising results, the researchers’ findings could be merely coincidental.

To draw a more solid conclusion, similar etchings depicting celestial events would need to be found.