A star has died?
Keep your eyes skyward, stargazers: NASA has predicted that the long-awaited “once-in-a-lifetime” starburst — or nova — will be visible to the naked eye sometime this summer, according to a recent press release. .
“It’s incredibly exciting to have this front row seat,” said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Called T Coronae Borealis, or “Fiery Star,” the celestial event is located 3,000 light-years away and consists of a white dwarf, an “Earth-sized” remnant of a dead star. The mass of the starburst, meanwhile, is similar to that of the Sun.
Also in the mix is ​​an “ancient red giant slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the relentless gravitational pull of its hungry neighbor,” NASA described.
When enough hydrogen from the red giant accumulates on the white dwarf’s surface, it triggers a massive thermonuclear explosion that blasts the accumulated material into space in a blinding flash. The intergalactic phenomenon is not to be confused with a supernova, a similar cosmic burn that destroys some dying stars — rather than keeping them intact like a nova — and is often billions of times brighter than a nova.
In the case of Blaze’s Star, that event appears to repeat itself, on average, every 80 years and may repeat itself for hundreds of thousands of years.
This event is particularly important given its relative proximity to Earth. “There are some recurring novae with very short cycles, but typically, we don’t often see a recurring outburst in a human lifetime, and rarely one so relatively close to our system,” Hounsell said.
Unfortunately, the exact date for the interstellar fireworks display is still unknown, however, this potential death star is said to be visible sometime this month. NASA estimates that the “brief” phenomenon will be visible to the naked eye for about a week.
Fortunately, amateur astronomers can improve their chances of seeing a brief light show by following a few tips.
First, they must first look toward the Northern Crown, a parabola-shaped constellation located west of the constellation Hercules, Fox News reports.
They can then trace a straight line from the two brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere – Arcturus and Vega – that will take them to the constellation Hercules and Corona Borealis, where the Flame of Glory will be most visible. It will seem as if a new star has appeared in the sky.
Unfortunately, “recurring novae are unpredictable,” according to NASA astrophysicist Koji Mukai, adding that just when scientists think they’ve found their pattern, it can “deviate completely from it.”
“We will see how T CrB (the scientific name for ‘Blaze Star’) behaves,” he added.
Either way, Hounsell believes the trail blazing event will “feed the next generation of scientists.”
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of young astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event that they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions and collect their own data,” she said. .