this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2024
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187
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 [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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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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[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There's also a hypernova. :D

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

🤯

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (4 children)

And kilonova, which is when two neutron stars collide!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Like when Bowie and Frankie made Under Pressure?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Thank you for posting the bit and the link.

Holy fuck that's so much energy!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 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

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

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