Classical Novae: Novae: an historical perspective

Introduction Nova, abbreviated from stella nova , means new star (the plural form is [stellae] novae). Although the Merriam-Webster dictionary indicates its etymological origin to be in New (Renaissance) Latin, the term is in fact found in C. Plinius Secundus, Naturae Historia , Book 2, chapter XXIV, written around AD 75 (Pliny, 1855) Idem Hipparchus … novam stellam in aevo suo genitam deprehendit; eiusque motu, qua die fulsit, ad dubitationem est adductus, anne hoc saepius fieret moverenturque et eae, quas putamus adfixas The same Hipparchus discovered a ‘new star’ that appeared in his own time and, by observing its motions on the day on which it shone, he was led to doubt whether it does not often happen, that those stars have motion which we suppose to be fixed although the somewhat obscure text would also permit an identification with a meteor or comet. Because of the Aristotelian doctrine of the immutability of the translunar regions, such an object in the stellar regions would not fit into Aristotle's world view, and other objects now known to be translunar, such as comets, were considered to be atmospheric objects and logically discussed in his book on meteorology (and meteors do indeed belong in that book!).