A massive nuclear explosion in space is about to create a bright new “star” in the night sky visible to the naked eye, in an amazing event that only happens once every 80 years.
The once-in-a-lifetime nuclear explosion will take place in the T Coronae Borealis star system about 3,000 light years away. The mind boggling forces unleashed will give the appearance of a bright new star shining in the night sky for a few days before it fades away for another 80 years.
The explosion is the result of a celestial dance between two stars, locked together in a binary star system. T Coronae Borealis system has two starts which orbit around each other - one of them is a tiny, dense white dwarf while the other is a massive red giant.
The white dwarf star is super dense, packing the same mass as our sun into a volume the size of the Earth, meanwhile the red giant has been steadily expanding as it ages, dumping its material into the white dwarf.
This is what leads to the massive explosion that in turn creates a new bright point of light in the night skies here on earth. This type of event, where a star increases in brightness rapidly is called a nova, explained Dr Daniel Brown, associate professor in astronomy at Nottingham Trent University.
“Every 80 years or so it (the white dwarf) gathers enough material so that it ignites in a thermonuclear explosion, boosting its brightness incredibly,” he said. “For T Coronae Borealis, the time is up for another such explosion, taking its brightness from 11mag – just about visible with binoculars in a dark sky – to a whopping 2mag – comparable to the stars in the Plough and easy to spot with the naked eye, in even light polluted skies.”
During the nova event T Coronae Borealis will become the brightest star in the constellation of Corona Borealis before it dims again after a few days. Prof Brown said it was hard to predict precisely when the event will occur but it could happen any time between now and September.
The Corona Borealis constellation is visible in the UK, it can be seen in the North East rising just after sunset currently. “It will be visible at its highest altitude in the South at 65 degrees above the horizon just after 3am, making observing easy,” he told ITV. “As we progress through spring, it will rise earlier and reach its highest altitude earlier as well. So we are in luck, as we approach the best time of the year to observe it.”
Stargazers can spot the constellation by following the handle of the Plough in a curve down towards the star Arcturus, which is the brightest point in the constellation Bootes. Coronae Borealis is the U-shape to the left of Bootes.
