- Feb 5, 2002
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NASA officials are expecting a special cosmic event that is being described as a “"once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity.”
As reported by Fox News, the event is a nova explosion that is located in a star system 3,000 light years away from Earth and astronomers predict it will be visible to the "unaided eye" at some point in 2024.
"Unfortunately, we don't know the timing of this as well as we know the eclipse," Bill Cooke, lead for NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, told Fox News Digital.
"But when it happens, it'll be something you'll remember."
The nova explosion, T Coronae Borealis, is one of 10 known recurrent novas in the galaxy and has been nicknamed "the blaze star.”
"A typical nova consists of a star, like a red giant — a star bigger than the sun — and a white dwarf, which is a star about the size of the Earth," Cooke said.
"And that red giant is dumping material on the surface of that white dwarf. They're orbiting each other, and they're real close together."
Cooke further explained that when sufficient material dropped on the surface of the white dwarf, the increased temperature sets off a thermonuclear runway on the surface of that white dwarf.
"When that happens, that white dwarf blows all that material out in space, and it gets very bright, hundreds of times brighter than what it was before," Cooke said.
"And if it's close to us or relatively close to us, we will see a new start to appear in our sky."
Although a telescope would have been used to see that star, Cooke says its sudden flare into brightness can be witnessed with the unaided eye.
Continued below.
www.crosswalk.com
As reported by Fox News, the event is a nova explosion that is located in a star system 3,000 light years away from Earth and astronomers predict it will be visible to the "unaided eye" at some point in 2024.
"Unfortunately, we don't know the timing of this as well as we know the eclipse," Bill Cooke, lead for NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, told Fox News Digital.
"But when it happens, it'll be something you'll remember."
The nova explosion, T Coronae Borealis, is one of 10 known recurrent novas in the galaxy and has been nicknamed "the blaze star.”
"A typical nova consists of a star, like a red giant — a star bigger than the sun — and a white dwarf, which is a star about the size of the Earth," Cooke said.
"And that red giant is dumping material on the surface of that white dwarf. They're orbiting each other, and they're real close together."
Cooke further explained that when sufficient material dropped on the surface of the white dwarf, the increased temperature sets off a thermonuclear runway on the surface of that white dwarf.
"When that happens, that white dwarf blows all that material out in space, and it gets very bright, hundreds of times brighter than what it was before," Cooke said.
"And if it's close to us or relatively close to us, we will see a new start to appear in our sky."
Although a telescope would have been used to see that star, Cooke says its sudden flare into brightness can be witnessed with the unaided eye.
Continued below.
Another 'Once in a Lifetime' Astronomical Viewing Event in 2024 - Rare Star Explosion
"Unfortunately, we don't know the timing of this as well as we know the eclipse," Bill Cooke, lead for NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said, but it will be visible to the "unaided eye" at some point in 2024.
www.crosswalk.com
