When was the last supernova in the Milky Way?

Answer 1

Looks like possibly 1680?

"Unfortunately, though, none of them has been well visible since the invention of the telescope, although modern estimates predict that every few decades one supernova should occur in a galaxy like the Milky Way.

Here we list the supernovae (sometimes only candidates, indicated by question marks) which have been recorded through the history of humanity."

http://www.seds.org/messier/more/mw_sn.html

Answer 2

The recorded ones are the supernova which was recorded in 1054 and whose remnant is the pulsar in the crab nebula Tycho's which was first recorded by Tycho in 1572 and Kepler's which was recorded in 1604. However the most recent supernova visible with the naked eye was the supernova in the Small Magallenic Cloud near our milky way and is designated 1987A as it was the first (hence the A) recorded supernova of 1987.

There are a couple of stars in the milky way near to us that are candidates to supernova. These are Betelgeuse, the red giant in Orion and the massive unstable star eta-carinae which was spectacularly photographed by the HST early in its life.. Being relatively close to the earth if either of these should supernova the display will be the astronomical event of indescribable proportions!!

Answer 3

In 1604 there was a supernova that is commonly called "Kepler's Supernova". That is the last one that was definitely observed (there may have been others since then that were obscured by dust in our own galaxy). The telescope was first used by Galileo in 1609 to observe the heavens (he didn't invent the telescope, however) and we haven't observed a supernova in our galaxy since before then! Based on supernovae we have seen in other galaxies that are similar to our own, we expect there to be a supernova roughly once a century, so we are long overdue (again, it's possible one or more have happened but were obscured by galactic dust.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1604