[citivolus (Ric)]

Originally Posted by glenc

I was just reading that the Veil nebula "was likely as bright as a crescent Moon, remaining visible for weeks" about 7,500 years ago.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

I was trying to figure out how this would be possible, and how the nova would not have masked the nebula from view, until I remembered that you would be seeing the reflected light shell, so if the supernova had already faded substantially by the time the reflection via the nebula arrived at the Earth, you would be able to see it.