Astronomers are on the edge of their seats as they anticipate a rare celestial event in the night sky in the coming months. A new star is expected to appear in the Milky Way’s Corona Borealis constellation, promising to be a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.
The event, known as a nova, will be caused by a sudden explosion from a collapsed star called a white dwarf. The T Coronae Borealis binary system, also known as the “Blaze Star,” is where this exciting event is expected to take place. This system consists of a white dwarf and an aging red giant star, which interact every 79 years to create a thermonuclear reaction and the nova event.
Astronomers are closely monitoring the star system, located 3,000 light-years away, and predict that the nova will shine as brightly as Polaris, the North Star, making it visible to the naked eye from the Northern Hemisphere. The event will be visible for a few days without equipment, and over a week with binoculars, before dimming and disappearing for around 80 years.
The Hubble Space Telescope will be used to observe the event, along with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to study the mass transfer between stars and the thermonuclear reactions that lead to a nova. Updates on the event will be provided by the NASAUniverse account on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Astronomers are thrilled about the expected recurrence of the nova event in T Coronae Borealis, with memories of past sightings like Nova Cygni in 1975 shared by NASA Meteoroid Environments Office lead William J. Cooke. This upcoming celestial event is sure to captivate stargazers and astronomers alike, offering a rare glimpse into the wonders of the universe.
