A nova explosion may soon be visible in the night sky. Here's where and when to look

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/a-nova-explosion-may-soon-be-visible-in-the-night-sky-heres-where-and-when-to-look

In the second half of 2024, a nova explosion in the star system called T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB, will once again be visible to people on Earth. T CrB will appear 1,500 times brighter than usual, but it won’t be as spectacular as the event in 1054.

187 points · 19 comments · view on lemmy.world

19 Comments

expatriado@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 1y (17 replies)

never heard of these recurrent novae, got to look it up, sounds counterintuitive

Rhaedas@fedia.io · 31 pts · 1y (10 replies)

You're thinking supernova, which happens only once. Novae were seen first as stars that would flare up, becoming a "new" star if it was too faint before to see. They are always a binary system, with the recurrent ones being a companion star that passes by periodically to deposit more material to flare up.

expatriado@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1y (9 replies)

ah, i see, the word super makes all the difference here

Rhaedas@fedia.io · 15 pts · 1y (7 replies)

There's also a hypernova. :D

expatriado@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y (6 replies)

🤯

NegativeInf@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 1y (5 replies)

And kilonova, which is when two neutron stars collide!

Drunemeton@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1y (1 reply)

From: https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/gravitational-waves-the-chirps-that-prove-einstein-was-right.htm


What is kilonova explained?

A kilonova is an explosion resulting from the collision of two neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole. These events are extremely energetic, and can release as much energy in a few seconds as our Sun will produce in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime.


flicker@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

Thank you for posting the bit and the link.

Holy fuck that's so much energy!

dessimbelackis@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y

Like when Bowie and Frankie made Under Pressure?

Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 1y

terra nova as well, which is when you boot up civ V

nul@programming.dev · 1 pts · 1y

Heavily featured in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwMwzGIt5ek

TheBat@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
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henfredemars@infosec.pub · 11 pts · 1y (2 replies)

Without reading the article, I imagine it’s a binary system where a white dwarf is siphoning gases from a star. When it reaches critical mass, it goes thermonuclear.

Tilgare@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y

You are exactly right - how could this have possibly been a guess, lol.

illi@lemm.ee · 3 pts · 1y

I saw a video on this and this is pretty much how I remember it explained.

thenextguy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y (2 replies)

How is it counterintuitive? Gas builds up, goes boom, repeat.

catloaf@lemm.ee · 13 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Usually stars don't build up gas. This one is part of a binary system, though, so like the other comment says, it's siphoning matter from the other one.

expatriado@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1y

the counterintuitive part came for the standard candle supernovae already coming from binary systems and not being recurring, but somehow the recurrent ones manages to blow up with 1/100 of the energy, i am just learning this

exocortex@discuss.tchncs.de · 14 pts · 1y

Ahh the event in 1054... Yeah that event was a banger!

dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 1y

That was a very long article for so little "where and when to look".