Sky watchers have had a busy year so far in 2024. There was much to see among the stars and planets. In April, many people in the United States could watch the total eclipse sun. In the next few months there will be new of two stars. This week we’re going to learn about some special words you can use to talk about objects and events in the sky.
Visible with the naked eye
A nova is the explosion of a star. A pair of stars named T Corona Borealis, called the “Blaze Star”, will be very bright, so people can see it almost anywhere on Earth, even in cities. Scientists say the event will be “visibly with the naked eye’, meaning you don’t need any special tools like binoculars or binoculars to see it. Visible is the adjective form related to the word “View.”
Explosion
The two stars that make up the Blaze Star produce a burst, or increased period of energy, about every 80 years. Rebekah Hounsell is an associate scientist specializing in nova events at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“We don’t often see a repeated outburst in human lifetimes, and rarely one that’s relatively close to our own system,” Hounsell said. Material from one star moves toward another, causing an explosion or burst of energy. This creates the bright light that we can see from Earth.
Constellation
Scientists say they are not sure exactly when we will be able to see the nova. But you’ll definitely hear about it in the news. Your next question might be, “How do I find it in the sky?” That’s when you’ll need to know the word “constellations” and how to find them in the sky. A constellation is a group of stars. Some constellations look specific shapes for people on earth. The nova coming this year is in the constellation Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown.
Between
The preposition “between” has many uses for talking about an upcoming nova and its constellation. If you draw an imaginary line between the stars, you get a curved a line that looks like the headset worn by kings and queens. To find it, you can look for the two brightest stars in the northern hemisphere, Arcturus and Vega. In the space between them you will find two constellations, Hercules and Bootes. The Northern Crown is among them.
Whole
People enjoyed another event in the sky in April: a total solar eclipse. The Moon moved between the Earth and the Sun, causing a shadow or area of darkness on the Earth. The path of the moon’s shadow on Earth is called the “path of totality”. We can change an adjective like “total” to a noun with the noun suffix -ity. A resulting noun means the state or condition of what the adjective describes. For example, it is used with “active” to create “activity”.
The next total eclipse on Earth will be on August 12, 2026 and will be visible in Spain.
And that’s everyday grammar!
I’m Andrew Smith.
To learn more about the nova, check out our science story: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/nasa-nova-explosion-to-be-once-in-lifetime-event-in-night- sky/7664089.html
The free online star map on this website will help you find the constellations in the sky where you live.
Jill Robbins wrote this lesson for teaching English.
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The words in this story
eclipse – n. an occasion when the Sun appears to be completely or partially obscured by a dark circle because the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth
new – n. a star that suddenly greatly increases in brightness and then dims again within a few months or years
visibly – adj. to be seen
View – against. to look at (something) carefully
specific – adj. used to indicate that one particular person or thing is being referred to and no other
curved – adj. having a round shape
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