Artist's concept of a Red Giant Star and a White Dwarf Star, that causes a Nova.
(Image Source: Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA)
By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower
The year 2024 continues to be a great year for citizen stargazers. On April 8, millions of people saw a Solar Eclipse, many of them viewing the Total Solar Eclipse. And, just a month later, the Sun, again, assisted in allowing many people to see, for the first time, the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis in southern latitudes where this atmospheric phenomenon is rarely seen. Near the end of this blog-post are Internet links to blog-posts specifically on these two events, including many photographs of the events.
Now NASA has announced that a rare Nova, a star which explodes in brightness on a recurring basis, should be visible without the need of a telescope or binoculars later this year --- perhaps as early as September.
A White Dwarf Star, the collapsed and dead remnant of a star that is now about the size of the Earth but the mass of our Sun, in a star system known as T Coronae Borealis (nicknamed the 'Blaze Star'; astronomical designation: T CrB) is presently too dim to see with the unaided eye (Apparent Visual Magnitude of +10), but should be visible without the need of a telescope or binoculars (one-power) when it becomes a Nova.
This White Dwarf Star is located in the constellation Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown of our Milky Way Galaxy. This constellation can be seen in a distinctive “C” shape, primarily in the Spring and Summer months (best viewed in July), about half-way between the stars Arcturus and Vega, two of the brightest stars in the night sky of the Northern Hemisphere.
If you find the stars Arcturus and Vega, the constellation Corona Borealis is located almost exactly in the middle between the two bright stars. Sky-gazing apps on your smart-phone could help to find this constellation.
While you will need a dark sky to see this constellation, the Nova should be visible in the night sky without the need of a telescope or binoculars. When the Nova does occur, the brightness will jump to approximately a similar Apparent Visual Magnitude as that of the star Polaris, currently our North Star or Pole Star (Apparent Visual Magnitude of Polaris: +1.86 to +2.13).
Once the Nova does occur, it should be visible without the need of a telescope or binoculars for a few days, as well as being visible in binoculars and a telescope for a little more than one week. So, there should be one or more good-weather days to see this Nova.
The T Coronae Borealis binary star system of a White Dwarf Star and an ancient Red Giant Star is located about 3,000 light-years away from the Earth, one of the closest Nova stars to our planet. This means that when the Nova explosion is visible here on Earth, that Nova explosion would have actually occurred 3,000 years ago!
Due to the great distance to this star system, do not expect to see an explosion like you might see on television or in motion pictures. Once the Nova occurs, it will start as a dim star and over the next day or so will slowly brighten.
Many people may have heard of a Supernova, the massive explosion of a dying star, which destroys the star and violently ejects many elements, particularly the heavy elements that will help build future stars and planets. A Supernova is the largest explosion ever seen by human beings. In the year A.D. 1054, Chinese astronomers witnessed a Supernova, which they called a “Guest Star”. Today, the debris from SN 1054 can be viewed in the night sky as the Crab Nebula.
In the case of a Nova, when the star explodes it does not destroy itself. A Nova consists of a White Dwarf Star which uses its massive gravitational pull to take a stream of material from a dying, companion, Red Giant Star. As the White Dwarf Star accumulates material from the Red Giant Star, the massive heat and pressure creates a run-away thermonuclear reaction resulting in the White Dwarf Star having a Nova explosion.
However, this explosion does not destroy the White Dwarf Star. In fact, such a Nova explosion comes in cycles. This is how NASA and astronomers can predict approximately when each Nova explosion will occur.
However, unlike a Solar Eclipse, scientists cannot predict the exact date or time of a Nova. So, you need to pay attention to the news media (newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet) over the next several months, particularly astronomy and science media and web-sites, to be alert to when the Nova occurs. When the Nova does occur, SpaceWatchtower will announce the Nova occurrence on the SpaceWatchtower 'X' / Twitter News-Feed (Internet link to this 'X' / Twitter News-Feed near the end of this blog-post).
It was in February of 2016 that astronomers announced that T Coronae Borealis had entered a “phase of unprecedented high activity” that would lead to a Nova. The star began to dim in March of last year, a precursor to going Nova. Hence, scientists predicted that the Nova would probably occur between June and September of this year, but it could occur later in the year.
“Recurrent novae are unpredictable and contrarian,” said Dr. Koji Mukai, a fellow astrophysics researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, a suburb of Washington DC. “When you think there can’t possibly be a reason they follow a certain set pattern, they do – and as soon as you start to rely on them repeating the same pattern, they deviate from it completely. We’ll see how T CrB behaves.”
The T Coronae Borealis White Dwarf Star recurrent Nova (recurring approximately once every 80 years) last had a Nova explosion in 1946. This Nova was discovered in 1866, but has been observed as early as 1217 (when it was recorded as a star by a German monk named Abbott Burchard, according to NASA) and 1787 simply as a star with a brightness of 10th magnitude.
In Latin, Nova simply translates as 'new'. Hence, when the ancient peoples saw a bright new star in a location where no star had previously been observed (as Galileo Galilei did not invent the astronomical telescope until 1609), they called it a Nova.
Novae (plural of Nova) are rare. In fact, there are only ten located within our Milky Way Galaxy, according to William J. Cooke from NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office.
Internet Links to Additional Information ---
Nova: Link >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova
T Coronae Borealis (Blaze Star): Link >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_Coronae_Borealis
Science Experiments Children & Teens Can Do At Home During Summer Break !
Relsted Blog-Posts ---
"Photos: Total Solar Eclipse Viewed in Cleveland." Sat., 2024 June 8.
"Northern Lights Seen in Pittsburgh." Wed., 2024 May 15.
Source: Glenn A. Walsh Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss
"Once-in-Lifetime Bright Nova Star Visible W/Out Telescope by End of Year"
Monday, 2024 July 22.
Artificial Intelligence not used in the writing or production of this article.
© Copyright 2024 Glenn A. Walsh, All Rights Reserved
Like This Post? Please Share!
More Astronomy & Science News - SpaceWatchtower 'X' / Twitter News-Feed:
Link >>> https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower
Astronomy & Science Links: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#sciencelinks
Want to receive SpaceWatchtower blog posts in your in-box ?
Send request to < spacewatchtower@planetarium.cc >.
gaw
Glenn A. Walsh, Informal Science Educator & Communicator (For more than 50 years! - Since Monday Morning, 1972 June 12):
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/spacewatchtower/gaw/
Electronic Mail: < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
Project Director, Friends of the Zeiss: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/
SpaceWatchtower Editor / Author: Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/
Formerly Astronomical Observatory Coordinator & Planetarium Lecturer, original Buhl Planetarium & Institute of Popular Science (a.k.a. Buhl Science Center), America's fifth major planetarium and Pittsburgh's science & technology museum from 1939 to 1991.
Formerly Trustee, Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, Pittsburgh suburb of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, the fourth of only five libraries where both construction and endowment funded by famous industrialist & philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh: Link >>> http://www.planetarium.cc Buhl Observatory: Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2016/11/75th-anniversary-americas-5th-public.html
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago: Link >>> http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear: Link >>> http://johnbrashear.tripod.com
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries: Link >>> http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc
* Other Walsh-Authored Blog & Web-Sites: Link >>> https://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/gawweb.html
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete