The T Coronae Borealis or Blaze Star is expected to be visible in the night sky in the next few days or weeks. Like a starburst, its appearance will be bright and brief, but a sight enthusiasts won’t want to miss.
As a binary system, T Coronae Borealis or T CrB is not one star, but two: a white dwarf and a red giant. In short, when a main sequence star like our Sun runs out of hydrogen in its core, it begins to collapse over billions of years.
Once it shrinks to its core, it becomes a white dwarf, a dead star.
In orbit between them, the white dwarf accumulates the red giant’s hydrogen. The build-up of pressure and heat triggers a thermonuclear explosion every 80 years powerful enough to travel 2,600 years before reaching our dimension.
A T Coronae Borealis nova, not a supernova, occurs once in a lifetime for most people.
A once-in-a-lifetime event for amateurs and researchers alike
T Coronae Borealis, 3,000 light-years away from Earth, is a small constellation of seven stars normally invisible from Earth.
However, the upcoming celestial event does not involve the entire constellation, but rather the “Northern Crown”, a binary system within the group. The brightest star in the group is Alphecca.
First noted centuries ago, the last T CrB nova occurred in 1946. There are few recurrent novae with short life cycles, let alone one powerful enough to reach us, so the rare stellar show inspires amateurs and researchers alike.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers. We’re giving young people a space event that they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions and collect their own data,” said Dr. Rebekah Hounsel, associate scientist specializing in nova events at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“It will drive the next generation of scientists.”
For space researchers, as a nearby phenomenon, the explosion offers a rare window to study “different wavelengths that hopefully give them the data to start unlocking the structure and the specific processes involved.”
“We can’t wait to get a full picture of what’s going on,” said Dr. Elizabeth Hays, head of the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory at NASA Goddard.
As technology has advanced over the past 80 years, scientists are poised to gain new insights into the life cycles of binary systems and the fading but powerful stellar processes that drive them, making this T CrB nova particularly exciting.
NASA has predicted that the T CrB nova will appear closer to September. However, the broader estimate assumes that the sighting will occur at any time this year. Latest news by GuardianThis seems to indicate that it could appear any time in the next few days and weeks.
Once the explosion reaches us, the burst will be short, lasting less than a week with the naked eye and visible through binoculars for another week.
A short brilliant fire: one week
By comparison, Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, has a magnitude of -1.46, which in astronomy means it burns brighter than stars with positive values. T Coronae Borealis is invisible at magnitude +10, but becomes visible at +2, making the glow closer to Polaris, Polaris. The sky at night.
Since the T CrB nova can appear at any time, NASA will continue to spread news related to the astronomical wonder. In Boötes and Hercules it appears as a crown or semicircle.
First, Sky at night BBC he suggests finding the star pattern of the Plow and following the handle to find the Boötes, which could be described as a dragon that triangulates towards the two legs of the staff.
From here, T Coronae Borealis should be clear. An astronomy app can help with location. Likewise, binoculars – an ideal prop. 2100 AEST is the best time to view a nuclear explosion by Guardian.
In addition to its luminosity, T Coronae Borealis comes with a Greek mythological story associated with the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. It represents the crown that Dionysus gave to Ariadne after Theseus abandoned her.
After marrying Dionysus, she threw the crown into the sky and the jewels turned into stars.
ABOUT THE EDITORIAL
Maria Mocerino Originally from LA, Maria Mocerino has been published in Business Insider, The Irish Examiner, The Rogue Mag, Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and now Interesting Engineering.