COMMISSION 27 OF THE I. A. U.
     INFORMATION BULLETIN ON VARIABLE STARS
                  NUMBER 192


                                  Konkoly Observatory
                                  Budapest
                                  30 March 1967




        A HISTORICAL RECORD POSSIBLY RELATED
             TO THE RADIO SOURCE CAS A


      The list of HO PENG Yoke (I) No. (577) and the list of XI
ZE-ZONG and PO SHU-JEN (2) No. 83 mention two different Korean
sources reporting that a "guest star" was seen to the west of the
constellation Wang-Liang from 1592, Dec. 4 to 1593, March. 
According to (1), the constellation Wang-Liang consists of Beta, Kappa,
Gamma, Eta and Alpha Cas. Thus, the position and time scale of
the phenomenon seem to allow the identification with the supernova
supposed to be the origin of Cas A. The date is about 100 years
earlier than the epoch 1700 that was derived from proper motions
of the filaments, but this discrepancy also holds for the case of the
Crab nebula (3). Full details will be given in "Sterne und Weltraum".


Heidelberg, Astronomisches Rechen-Institut
March 22, 1967



                                         P. BROSCHE





(1) Ho Peng Yoke, Vistas in Astronomy, Vol. 5 (1962), 127.
(2) Xi Ze-zong and Po Shu-jen, Acta Astr. Sinica 13 (1965), 1.
(3) P. Brosche, Zeitschr.f.Astrophysik 64 (1966), 1.