But whats just as cool is that the nova is expected to be exceptionally bright.
Like millions of others, I spotted prominences,appearing as bright red dots, during totality.
The current window opened this past February and will continue into the late summer.
Artist’s depiction of the expected nova.Gif: NASA Visualization Studio
We simply dont know.
The system experienced its pre-eruption dip last year, alerting astronomers to the imminent explosion.
This process forms an accretion disk around the white dwarfa swirling vortex of stellar material.
A recent observational report of T CrB, showing the system (top right) and a recent history of its light curve (along bottom) ahead of the anticipated nova. George Dvorsky/Unistellar Cosmic Cataclysms Team
In the case of T CrB, this explosive event repeats once every 79 years or so.
Which is…looks at watch…..right about now.
At a magnitude of +10, T Coronae Borealis is currently invisible to the unaided eye.
The system, visible to observers in the Northern Hemisphere, is located in the Corona Borealis constellation.
After this period, the star system will revert back to its quiet phase.
Rinse, repeat, exploding again, likely in 2103.
A previous version of this article originally appeared on April 10, 2024.
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