Once-in-a-lifetime star ‘explosion’ set to light up the sky could happen any moment from now
Hopefully the explosion doesn't happen before this article gets published otherwise my copy is ruined.
Aside from that, stargazers across the world could quite possibly witness a 'once-in-a-lifetime' event this summer.
Sorry Brits, we are not talking about a week of warm weather.
Instead, scientists say that a nova explosion of the binary star system T Corona Borealis is predicted to take place in the coming months.
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The last time the T Coronae Borealis was visible from Earth was in 1946.
What is a nova explosion?
The T Coronae Borealis is 3,000 light years away from Earth and lies within the Northern Crown constellation of the galaxy.
The star system is made up of two types of stars - a white dwarf and an ancient red giant.
Because of gravity, the white dwarf will gradually rip away hydrogen from the other star.
As this happens, it causes a build up of gas which triggers a thermonuclear explosion, otherwise known as a nova explosion.
This is different to a supernova, which is the final explosion of a dying star.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves," said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, a NASA assistant research scientist.
"It's incredibly exciting to have this front row seat."
When will we see it?
Scientists are predicting that the explosion will take place any time, from now until September.
They say it will be so bright that the nova will be visible from Earth with the naked eye.
If/when it does happen, the explosion will be visible for a whole week.
What do we look out for?
"Novae are binary star systems, where two stars closely orbit each other," Dr Darren Baskill told BBC Science Focus.
"Around half the stars in the night sky are binary systems.
"This sudden onset of nuclear fusion makes this surface layer of gas even hotter, triggering even more nuclear reactions to take place resulting in a dramatic chain reaction and a dramatic brightening of the star – a nova explosion,"
Dr Elizabeth Hays, chief of the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory at NASA Goddard, said: “Citizen scientists and space enthusiasts are always looking for those strong, bright signals that identify nova events and other phenomena.
“Using social media and email, they’ll send out instant alerts, and the flag goes up. We’re counting on that global community interaction again with T Coronae Borealis."
Anish Vij