Supernova SN 1006
A star brighter than Venus, bright enough to read by
In spring 1006 the brightest stellar event in recorded history flared in the constellation Lupus, brighter than Venus, bright enough to read by at night. It was described by the astronomer Ali ibn Ridwan in Cairo and by Chinese, Japanese and European chroniclers.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 11th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- c. 1000 Stephen I, first king of Hungary — 6 years earlier
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 988 Christianization of Kievan Rus' — 18 years earlier
Middle East
- 1025 Avicenna's Canon of Medicine — 19 years later
Asia
- c. 1010 The Tale of Genji — 4 years later
Americas
- 1021 Norse in North America — 15 years later
Alive at the time
- Vladimir the Great (aged 46)
- Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (aged 26)
- Ferdowsi (aged 66)
- Æthelred the Unready (aged 40)
- Leif Erikson (aged 36)
- Murasaki Shikibu (aged 33)
- Yaroslav the Wise (aged 28)
- Cnut the Great (aged 11)
- Edward the Confessor (aged 3)
- Sei Shōnagon (aged 40)