In what has been called a “once-in-a-lifetime event,” light from a star’s thermonuclear explosion has been traveling toward Earth for thousands of years, and it’s unclear when it will appear on Earth.
T Corona Borealis (also known as T Cor Bor, T CrB, and the Blaze Star) is as bright as the North Star in the Northern Hemisphere.
Dr Laura Driessen, from the University of Sydney’s school of physics, said in the Southern Hemisphere the Blaze Star would appear as bright as Orion’s right leg.
A recurrent nova, T CrB is a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of a white dwarf star about 3,000 light-years away, becoming observable roughly every 80 years.
The dwarf star sucks up hydrogen from the neighboring red giant, which causes a buildup of pressure and heat that eventually leads to an explosion.
The object, known as a “nova” (meaning “new”), is expected to be visible any time between now and September.
There is a dark spot in the constellation Corona Borealis that astronomers and non-astronomers around the world are watching, and a “new” star will appear there, visible to the naked eye for about a week.
NASA is calling this a “once-in-a-lifetime event.”
Driessen said the two stars are close enough that gravity would cause the white dwarf to suck in material.
“It’s a binary star system and every now and then it goes through an explosion, so it’s a nova,” she said.
“When we think of novas, we often think of supernovae, which explode at the end of their life and there’s no going back. But novas are based on this accretion, this collection of material, and then you get this smaller surface explosion.”
The first recorded sighting of the Blaze Star was in 1217, when the abbot of Ursberg, Germany, saw “a faint star which gave off a strong light for some time.” NASA says.
It was last seen in 1946.
Driessen said the star is constantly changing, brightening and dimmer, but about 10 years before the explosion, it starts to brighten a bit, then dims again a few months before the explosion.
“This doesn’t happen like clockwork and has to do with the accumulation of material, so it’s not an exact figure, but it does give us an early warning,” she said.
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While this spectacular phenomenon has been observed before, this is the first time it has been studied with modern technology, Driessen said.
“That’s why it’s so exciting. This is the first observation that will give us information that we can access now. We have all these telescopes that we didn’t have 80 years ago,” she said.
NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico are just a few of the instruments tracking the blazes.
Dr Elizabeth Hayes, a Fermi project scientist and director of NASA’s Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, said a typical nova explosion is still far into the future.
“This probe is so close, there will be many eyes on it, studying different wavelengths and hopefully providing data that will help elucidate its structure and the specific processes involved,” she said.
“I can’t wait to get the full picture of what’s going on.”
NASA Corona Borealis Map Driessen said it helps people know exactly where to look, and software such as Stellarium can help: There are several free apps that can map the night sky.
Driessen said people should find the darkest spot possible, as far away from cities and towns as possible, and bring binoculars for a better view.
“Let your eyes get used to the dark,” she said. “It’s helpful to have a red flashlight. Put a bit of cellophane over the flashlight so you don’t damage your night vision. And don’t look at your phone.”
