A nova is a 3,000-year-old burst of light that will make a new star visible to Earth
Frederick Walter, Galactic astronomer and professor at Stony Brook University, explains what a nova explosion is and why we will be able to see the effects from it. Walter said the explosion will be visible for several days to most people on Earth.
Solar eclipse fans riding high from totality have something else to look forward to this year, which could also be a live celestial event to witness.
The dance between the two stars 3,000 light years away will result in a burst of light that will produce a “new star” appearance in the night sky visible to the naked eye for days and through a telescope for weeks .
Astronomers expect this nova explosion in the binary star system known as T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB, to occur between now and September. The last time this eruption was seen was in 1946.
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Astronomer Gerard Van Belle, with the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, said the scientific community is eager for this explosion to happen so they can use the latest telescopes to study it.
“You have one star that is constantly aging, growing and shedding its outer material, and collapsing onto an even older star that has all this left behind, fire This fire is really a thermonuclear element,” said Van Belle. “As material accumulates on top of it from its companion, it finally explodes.”
A red giant star and a white dwarf orbit each other in this nova game. A red giant is a large circle with shades of red, orange and white, with the opposite side being white and the lightest shades. The animation opens with a red giant on the right side of the screen, accompanied by a white dwarf. As the red giant moves behind the white image, a white nova explosion ignites, filling the screen with white light. After the light fades, a ball of orange ejected nova material is shown. A small white spot remains after the material haze clears, indicating that the white spot survived the explosion. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
A single white star about the size of the Earth and about the size of the Sun, orbits a large, red star. Hydrogen falling onto a white dwarf accumulates over time, in this case, about 80 years.
How do astronomers know when a nova explosion is going to happen?
Like the meteor showers we see every year, Earth’s people have been noticing changes in the night sky for a very long time. With T CrB, this bright burst was seen in the sky at least twice, 80 years apart, helping scientists to determine that it is a periodic event.
“We’re starting to get very long astronomical times for some of these objects. And so for this particular object, it was observed in 1866 to light up. Then 80 years later, in 1946, it it flashed again, “Van. Belle said. It went from something you couldn’t see well with binoculars to something you could walk outside and see with your own two eyes.
Van Belle said that in the last two bursts, the star brightened and dimmed over a period of two years, which has been happening again.
“It looks like it’s ready to pop,” Van Belle said.
When will the T CrB explosion occur?
Unlike a solar eclipse or meteor shower, astronomers can’t give us the exact time and date of a Nova outburst, but that could change in the next 80 years when the next outburst occurs. Van Belle speculates that an upcoming space telescope could make that possible.
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“Can we get to the point where we can say, you know, ‘It’s going to be 5 on Thursday,’? But we’re not there yet,” said Van Belle.
Based on the observed brightening and dimming over the past two years, the best guess is that the eruption will occur between now and September.
Astronomical technology has seen great advances since the last T CrB made a visible explosion on Earth. This will be the first time scientists can study this phenomenon using modern high-resolution telescopes.
“Every telescope on Earth will probably watch this event to participate in what is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Van Belle said.
The Lowell Telescope in Flagstaff is already looking at the foundation. This will help astronomers determine when the explosion starts and measure its expansion as the fireball grows.
Van Belle said many astronomers have requested time to watch the telescopes while they wait for the event.
“These are the kind of interesting requests where you don’t know exactly where you need the time, but you can do this where you can request something in advance and basically say, ‘Okay, we’ll stay tuned. . this thing, and we will raise this target of opportunity when it happens.’
When this happens, telescopes like the one at Lowell Observatory can see the explosion in its entirety. Van Belle said visitors to the observatory will also be able to look through telescopes to see our new star in action.
Telescopes will see an increasing brightness, and eventually, an expanding area as the fireball grows.
Van Belle said he was most interested in seeing the shape and direction of the explosion.
“Is it a big round thing? Does it spike on one side? Does it shoot a jet on one side? It will probably start out as something that looks like a baseball, but eventually it looks like a barbell when it arrives. yes done,” he said. “Perhaps it will be the right way to shoot the fireworks.”
Where can you see T CrB in the sky?
The explosion will appear as a bright new star in the Corona Borealis constellation.
A conceptual diagram of how to locate Hercules and his powerful globular clusters in the sky made with planetarium software. Credit: NASA (NASA)
Before the nova outburst, it’s a good idea to start looking at the Big Dipper in the night sky because Van Belle said it’s the perfect place to find a new addition to the sky later this year.
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To find a new star, Van Belle said to trace the Big Dipper’s hand to the star Arcturus. During the summer, Arcturus can be found high in the sky just after sunset.
“About half of that arc, above that, you’ll see a smiley face, which is the northern crown, the Corona Borealis. And this thing is in the Corona Borealis,” said Van Belle. “Look for something new, almost as high as your hand in the smiling face of the Corona Borealis.”
According to NASA, the small, semicircular arc constellation is also close to Bootes and Hercules.
When you look up and see something new, it indicates that a T CrB explosion has occurred.
What happens after the Nova explosion is over?
In the week of the explosion, Van Belle said that what we see as a “new star” in the sky is material thrown onto the white liquid that acts like burning cinder.
Once all the matter is burned, the process begins again, and this dance in the T CrB system will continue beyond our lifetime.
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“The strange thing here is a nova, the word we use to call this thing, it’s Latin for new. But really, these are good old stars, and they’re only new because they’re new to us, Van Belle said.
Van Belle says this explosive process can continue for about 2 million years throughout the life of a red giant star until it dies and turns into white matter.
“It’s going to be the same thing as its counterpart,” Van Belle said. And then they will rotate for the rest of the time.
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