The event, known as a nova, will be so bright that a “new” star will seem to appear in the night sky temporarily, visible to the naked eye.
A rare cosmic eruption is expected to occur in the Milky Way in the coming months — an outburst so bright that a “new” star will seemingly appear for a short time in the night sky.
The event, known as a nova, will be a once-in-a-lifetime skywatching opportunity for those in the Northern Hemisphere, according to NASA, because the types of star systems in which such explosions occur are not common in our galaxy.
The stellar eruption will take place in a system called T Coronae Borealis, which is 3,000 light-years away from Earth. It contains two stars: a dead star, also known as a “white dwarf,” closely orbited by a red giant. Red giants are dying stars that are running out of hydrogen fuel in their cores; the sun in our solar system will eventually become one, according to NASA.
What blows my mind is that star already exploded 3,000 years ago (give or take a few months). I know space is big, but this just hits home how mind-bogglingly big it really is.
exploded 3,000 years ago
So the Light traveled already for 3000 light years. The furthest man made object (voyager, 1977, 50 years ago) is currently at the Helipause, just 18 Light-Hours away. Not even a light-day. Much less a light year.
It will take about 300 years to get to the inner edge of the Oort Cloud, and tens of thousands of years to get past it.
Astronomers predict that the nova explosion could happen anytime between now and September.
Why call this a stargazing event if you can’t actually spot it? The time frame is on the order of months.
