Nearly six centuries ago, Korean astronomers scanning the night sky for omens of the future spotted a new star in the cluster of stars they called Wei, and what today’s star watchers consider the tail of the Scorpius constellation.

By Kenneth Chang New York Times 8-30-17

Fourteen nights later, it vanished.

Astronomers have now identified the source of that brief brightening — a binary star system a couple of thousand light-years away.