A nova explosion with your own eyes. We will get a unique opportunity, the phenomenon will last a week – VTM.cz

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced a rather unique cosmic event on its website. A star system located 3,000 light-years from Earth will soon be visible to the naked eye. This is supposed to be a unique viewing opportunity, as this nova explosion occurs on average only once every 80 years.

The star, known as T Coronae Borealis, located in the constellation of the Northern Crown, last exploded in 1946, and astronomers believe that the next eruption will occur again between February and September of this year. The star system, which is normally +10 magnitudes and too faint to be seen with the naked eye, will “enlarge” to +2 magnitudes during this event and will be similarly bright as the North Star.

A nova explosion with your own eyes

At the moment when the brightness reaches its peak, the star should be visible with the naked eye for several days, with a telescope for a little over a week. Subsequently, it darkens again, perhaps for another eighty years. The nova will be visible in the constellation of the Northern Crown, which is located between the constellations of Hercules and the Shepherd.

The constellation of the Northern Crown is located between the constellations of Hercules and the Shepherd

This recurring nova is only one of five in our Milky Way galaxy. This is because T Coronae Borealis actually consists of two parts orbiting each other – a white dwarf and a red giant. The two stars are so close that when the red giant becomes unstable due to increasing temperature and pressure, it begins to eject its outer layer into the surroundings, while the white dwarf collects this mass on its surface.

The white dwarf’s shallow, dense atmosphere eventually heats up enough to trigger a short-lived thermonuclear reaction—and create a nova that we can observe from Earth. “Seeing such a star explode is far rarer than a solar eclipse,” warns NASA astronomer Bill Cooke. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

The designation “nova” is derived from the Latin word for “new star”. A nova is characterized as an initially faint celestial object that suddenly brightens, giving the impression that a new star has formed. In the case of T Coronae Borealis we will be able to observe an event that actually happened about 3,000 years agoi.e. at the time when the construction of the Great Wall of China began.