This nova is about to explode, and you can see it any moment now.

In the near future, people will look up at the sky and see a distant star explode.

Although humans on Earth can observe this celestial phenomenon as if it were happening now, the great explosion actually happened about 3,000 years ago, likely during the time of King Solomon, who built the first temple in Jerusalem. The light of the explosion was visible throughout the Iron Age, the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution. spacehas just arrived on the doorstep of this planet.

A beacon emanating from the darkness comes from T Coronae Borealis, a star system inhabited by a dead star. White dwarf It will cause a spectacular nova explosion. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)Astronomers say this Stargazing highlights of the year.

This star’s remnant is interesting in that it explodes periodically — experts believe it happens about every 80 years — meaning that someone is likely alive to witness it. The last eruption was in 1946However, few adults today will be able to witness the next disaster.

“We don’t typically see repeated explosions in our lifetimes, and they rarely happen so close to our solar system,” Rebecca Hounsell, an assistant research scientist specializing in novae at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement.

Here’s everything you need to know about this special event.

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What is a Nova?

A so-called “nova” is a type of stellar explosion. wonderfulRising StarA giant star collapses and disappears Black Hole or Neutron Star.

for Rising StarWe need a white dwarf, the shriveled corpse of a dead, mid-sized star. If a white dwarf could steal stellar material from a nearby living star, Hydrogen accumulates It will crash into the surface of the white dwarf, raising its temperature and eventually causing it to ignite like a bomb.

The nova does not destroy the white dwarf, but rather explodes, spewing elements such as carbon and iron into space.

Normally, white dwarfs are too dim to be seen with the naked eye, but the flashes of light produced by these runaway nuclear reactions are enormous. A dead star should become brighter The number of stars increases exponentially. This phenomenon is called nova, Latin for “new,” because it looks like a new star suddenly appears in the sky and then fades into the darkness a few days later.

Corona Borealis consists of a white dwarf star orbiting a red giant star, which periodically explodes as a nova about every 80 years.
Credit: NASA Goddard illustration

What is T Coronae Borealis?

T Coronae Borealis is Binary star system It is located 3,000 light years away from our Milky Way galaxy. A small white dwarf star the size of Earth is Red giant In other words, it is an aging sun-like star that has run out of nuclear fuel.

As a red giant star approaches death, it expands to between 100 and 1,000 times its original size. Peel off the outer layerWhite dwarfs collect material. The Sun, the center of our solar system, is predicted to become a red giant in about 5 billion years.

Walter “Will” Golay, a graduate student at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Mashable that while not all novae recur, T Coronae (T CrB for short) does occur on an interesting cycle.

“The mass transfer (from the companion star) is pretty constant over many years, so it basically builds up, builds up, builds up, explodes, blows all that mass away, and then does the same thing again,” he said.

A nova explosion does not completely destroy a white dwarf.
Credit: Graphic from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

When will he become a rising star?

Astronomers believe T CrB is on the verge of exploding as a nova. They predict the explosion will happen sometime between now and September 2024. The last nova explosion occurred in February 1946.

“We know this is coming soon because the system got quite dimmed just before the final outburst in 1946, and that’s what happened,” said Golay, who will study the event with the Submillimeter Array Telescope in Hawaii. “When we saw that dimming, people got alarmed.”

“When the dip in brightness was observed, people became more alarmed.”

NASA and other agencies will post updates on the sightings. NASA Space X’s account (formerly Twitter).

After reaching its peak brightness, the nova will continue to shine for a few nights, and you’ll likely be able to catch a glimpse of it with binoculars for about a week after that.

Researchers are preparing to observe the nova with telescopes.
Credit: NASA Goddard

Is it possible that the nova won’t brighten?

Astronomers caution that even with signs of an imminent nova, there’s no guarantee that T CrB will brighten this summer. NASA Goddard astrophysics researcher Koji Mukai says novae are, by their very nature, unpredictable and paradoxical.

“When we think there can be no reason for it to follow a certain pattern, it does,” Mukai said in a statement. “And when we start to expect the same pattern to be repeated, it quickly deviates completely. We’ll be watching to see how T CrB behaves.”

The white dwarf ignites, forming a sphere of ejected nova material shown in pale orange.
Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Illustration

Where will the nova appear in the sky?

Nova explosion Corona BorealisSmall semicircular constellation Surrounded by Boeotes and Hercules in the northern sky. If you haven’t been stargazing, you can download an interactive star chart app on your phone to help you orient yourself.

of Free NASA appFor example, Google has a basic sky view under the “Featured” tab that uses location data to pinpoint major stars. The nova is somewhere in the region between the mapped stars of Vega and Arcturus. Golay’s favorite app for finding sources is Star WalkIn-app purchases may occur.

When the explosion occurs, it won’t flash or flicker, but will simply appear to be a new star that never existed before. The magnitude of the explosion is expected to be such that the temporary point of light will be brighter than Polaris, also known as the North Star. Polaris.

The nova will be somewhere in the region between the stars Vega and Arcturus.
Credit: NASA

Usually, people who live in the countryside have an advantage when it comes to stargazing, but in this case, there may be a little light pollution from the city that reduces the field of view and blocks out all but the brightest objects. The nova should be among the more prominent objects.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime sight, and scientists are eager to learn from it.

“Let’s say half of all stars are binary, which means half of all exoplanets are binary. Understanding how their host stars behave is key to finding other habitable planets,” Golay said. “Obviously, you wouldn’t want to live on an exoplanet around a star that explodes every 80 years.”

This article was originally published on April 20, 2024. It has been updated with additional information from NASA.