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A nova explosion may soon be visible in the night sky. Here's where and when to look (www.pbs.org)

submitted 2 months ago by gedaliyah@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

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In the second half of 2024, a nova explosion in the star system called T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB, will once again be visible to people on Earth. T CrB will appear 1,500 times brighter than usual, but it won’t be as spectacular as the event in 1054.

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[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago

never heard of these recurrent novae, got to look it up, sounds counterintuitive

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 31 points 2 months ago

You're thinking supernova, which happens only once. Novae were seen first as stars that would flare up, becoming a "new" star if it was too faint before to see. They are always a binary system, with the recurrent ones being a companion star that passes by periodically to deposit more material to flare up.

[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

ah, i see, the word super makes all the difference here

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 15 points 2 months ago

There's also a hypernova. :D

[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

🤯

[-] NegativeInf@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

And kilonova, which is when two neutron stars collide!

[-] Drunemeton@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

From: https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/gravitational-waves-the-chirps-that-prove-einstein-was-right.htm

What is kilonova explained?

A kilonova is an explosion resulting from the collision of two neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole. These events are extremely energetic, and can release as much energy in a few seconds as our Sun will produce in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime.

[-] flicker@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Thank you for posting the bit and the link.

Holy fuck that's so much energy!

[-] dessimbelackis@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Like when Bowie and Frankie made Under Pressure?

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 months ago

terra nova as well, which is when you boot up civ V

[-] nul@programming.dev 1 points 2 months ago

Heavily featured in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwMwzGIt5ek

[-] TheBat@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy2zB8bLSpk

[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 11 points 2 months ago

Without reading the article, I imagine it’s a binary system where a white dwarf is siphoning gases from a star. When it reaches critical mass, it goes thermonuclear.

[-] Tilgare@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

You are exactly right - how could this have possibly been a guess, lol.

[-] illi@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

I saw a video on this and this is pretty much how I remember it explained.

[-] thenextguy@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

How is it counterintuitive? Gas builds up, goes boom, repeat.

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 13 points 2 months ago

Usually stars don't build up gas. This one is part of a binary system, though, so like the other comment says, it's siphoning matter from the other one.

[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

the counterintuitive part came for the standard candle supernovae already coming from binary systems and not being recurring, but somehow the recurrent ones manages to blow up with 1/100 of the energy, i am just learning this