A list of guest‐star records in Korean history and their possible counterparts

Abstract

We report on guest-star events recorded in Korean history in the period between A.D. 154 and 1807. We search five books, namely Joseonwangjosillok, Seungjeongwonilgi, Jeungbomoonheonbigo, Goryeosa, and Samguksagi for "guest star" and find 37 events. Seventeen of the guest stars are almost certainly comets as identified previously and are not astrophysical transient events of our interest; we list them for completeness but do not discuss them in detail. We review the historical recordings and the previous interpretations of the guest-star events and scrutinize them in order to better identify the guest stars. We infer the positions of 11 events and compare them to astrophysical objects in up-to-date catalogues of possible remnants of transient events: supernova remnants, pulsars, magnetars, novae, and cataclysmic variables. We consider the positions and visibility of the astrophysical events, select possible counterparts, and present a list of them for the guest stars with an inferred position.