NASA officials are looking forward to a special space event, described as a “once-in-a-lifetime observational opportunity.”
According to reports fox newsthe event is a nova explosion located in a star system 3,000 light-years from Earth, and astronomers predict it will be visible to the “naked eye” sometime in 2024.
“Unfortunately, like the eclipse, we don’t know its timing,” said Bill Cook, director of NASA’s Meteor Environment Office (MEO) at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He told News Digital.
“But when that happens, it’s going to be a reminder.”
This nova explosion, T coronae borealis, is one of ten repeating novae known in the galaxy and is called a “blaze star.”
“A typical nova consists of a star like a red giant (a star larger than the Sun) and a white dwarf, a star about the size of Earth,” Cook said.
“And that red giant is ejecting material onto the surface of that white dwarf. They’re orbiting each other and very close together.”
Cook further explained that if enough material falls onto the surface of a white dwarf, the increase in temperature will cause a thermonuclear runway to form on the star’s surface.
“When that happens, the white dwarf blows all its material out into space and becomes very bright, hundreds of times brighter than before,” Cook said.
“And if it’s close to us or relatively close, we’ll see a new beginning appear in the sky.”
Although a telescope would have been used to view the star, Cook said its sudden brightness could be witnessed with the naked eye.
“T. coronae borealis is unusual in that it never explodes its stack,” he said. “It happens about every 79 years.”
The last explosion occurred in 1946. According to NASA, viewers of the upcoming space event will see an explosion that took place 3,000 years ago. Because that’s how the light got there.
“3,000 years ago, when that star exploded, the Bronze Age was coming to an end,” Cook said. “The Kingdom of David rose in Palestine. There was a lot going on, but the explosion happened not that long ago – 3,000 years ago.”
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T Coronae has magnitude +10 and requires a small telescope to see it.
“But if the stack were to explode, it would reach something like magnitude +2,” Cook said.
“So how bright it is, it’s almost as bright as Polaris, Polaris.”
The explosion, the light produced when material is blown off the surface of a white dwarf, will be visible just to the right of the constellation Hercules.
“you [will] Look at all the new stars that pop up out there,” Cook said.
“It appears to come out of nowhere and will remain visible for about a week before darkening,” he continued.
Image credit: ©Getty Images / Andriy Onufriyenko
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributor to his Crosswalk Headlines and host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast dedicated to sound doctrine and Biblical truth. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Alliance Theological Seminary.
