NASA Predicts Rare Nova Explosion This Summer
It is about 3,000 light-years from Earth, but it can be witnessed with the naked eye.
NASA predicts a nova will occur sometime this summer, about 3,000 light-years from Earth, but it can be witnessed with the naked eye.
The nova reoccurs once every 80 years.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data,” said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist specializing in nova events at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’ll fuel the next generation of scientists.”
The nova should happen in a dark spot among the seven stars of Corona Borealis, known as the Northern Crown.
The dark spot contains “two stars that are bound to and in orbit around each other,” known as T Coronae Borealis or T CrB. NASA nicknamed it the Blaze Star:
T Coronae Borealis, dubbed the “Blaze Star” and known to astronomers simply as “T CrB,” is a binary system nestled in the Northern Crown some 3,000 light-years from Earth. The system is comprised of a white dwarf – an Earth-sized remnant of a dead star with a mass comparable to that of our Sun – and an ancient red giant slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the relentless gravitational pull of its hungry neighbor.
The hydrogen from the red giant accretes on the surface of the white dwarf, causing a buildup of pressure and heat. Eventually, it triggers a thermonuclear explosion big enough to blast away that accreted material. For T CrB, that event appears to reoccur, on average, every 80 years.
EarthSky provided a picture of it. The app SkyView makes it easy to find the constellations and so much more.
Download the app. It’s fascinating and you learn so much!!
It is not a supernova:
In a nova event, the dwarf star remains intact, sending the accumulated material hurtling into space in a blinding flash. The cycle typically repeats itself over time, a process which can carry on for tens or hundreds of thousands of years.
“There are a few recurrent novae with very short cycles, but typically, we don’t often see a repeated outburst in a human lifetime, and rarely one so relatively close to our own system,” Hounsell said. “It’s incredibly exciting to have this front-row seat.”
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Comments
It’s hoping for a contribution to the science budget. I predict, if it happens, you won’t be able to see it with the naked eye.
NASA predicts?
Did they predict that their astronauts return from the ISS will be delayed for the second time? Did they predict that they would have serious issues with the Boeing-built spacecraft that carried them to orbit?
I predict they will not tell us what is going on.
What’s that got to do with it? Astronomic events are not affected by human incompetence.
You knew that NASA is an acronym for “Never A Straight Answer”, right?
I was expecting an Earth-shattering Kaboom!!!.
You need an Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator for that!
Were they blocking someone’s view?
If they were that would make me very, very angry
Well. Kind of. The Vogons are building a hyperspace bypass….
Maybe Gossimer can provide some insight into this issue.
Not unless Duck Dodgers can stops it!
Corona is actually pretty easy to find and make out, and is conveniently high in the sky every evening throughout the summer months in the northern hemisphere. I stargaze it often from my pool after dark. If this nova produces a brightness thst is more than BARELY “visible to the naked eye” (as so many of our recent highly-touted but disappointing comets have been), it’s going to be at center stage.
(We enjoyed an entirely unanticipated Vandenburg SpaceX launch from our pool last night. Beautiful and exciting!)
“Corona is actually pretty easy to find”
Yeah, they have it at my regular grocery store.
When can you see this?
It happened 3000 years ago……
You know what would have been nice? When it was happening and where in the being included in the story
It’s a stellar event. It’s not on a timetable. Sometime this year, is a best guess, but maybe next year, or later. As to where, it’s in Corona, which is a central summer constellation, roughly in the area of the sky pointed to by the handle of the Big Dipper, if you continue its arc a bit tightly.
It’s a stellar event that has already happened and NASA knows how fast light speed is and where the nova happened. I read in a different story when and what direction to look
So tell us
I’d be amazed. No information can travel faster than lightspeed, so it is impossible for NASA to know (here) when the event occurred (there) until the light arrives from it… which it hasn’t. And at that point, we’ll all know the same information.
Well, I out-clevered myself. though it’s true that lightspeed prevents NASA from knowing when the explosion “already occurred,” NASA is perfectly able to detect and interpret warning signs (that have already reached earth) that indicate how close the star may be to exploding, and give a fair estimate as to how much longer it will take.
New article here:
https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=26&month=06&year=2024
“A nova explosion thousands of light years from Earth will disproportionately affect BIPOC and Transpeople, experts say’
– NPR, later this week.
Thanos, O hear our plea!
Meh, If our sun goes nova, then maybe I’ll pay some attention.
Can’t…too small… it will just expand and envelope the earth leaving a burned out surface…. yes… global warming at its finest.
You mean it will have occurred 3000 years ago this summer, right?
Visitor: I wonder how old this fossil is.
Guard: 67,000,002 years and five months next Tuesday, Ma’am.
Visitor: Wow, how did they date it so precisely?
Guard: Well, I was here when they brought it in, and they said it was 67 million years old, and that was two years and five months ago next Tuesday!
What’s that got to do with it? Astronomic events are not affected by fossils.
It’s a joke.
and you thought the pinto was bad!
I have it on good authority that Biden saw it occur.
I heard that Biden willed it to occur.
Biden is NEVER an observer. He is ALWAYS a catalyst.
It was last seen dancing the Bossa Nova with Earl Long.
I blame global warming, systemic racism, and White nationalism!