A rare eruption of light from a dead star will likely be visible to people on Earth this summer in a fleeting but potentially stark celestial display that scientists are calling “a once-in-a-lifetime event.”The technical term for the impending cosmic explosion is nova, which happens when a white dwarf lights up suddenly and often strikingly in the night sky. “White dwarf” is how astronomers describe a star at the end of its life cycle, after it has exhausted all of its nuclear fuel and only its core remains. As opposed to a supernova — another solar phenomenon visible from Earth, when a star effectively explodes — a nova instead refers to a dramatic ejection of material that a white dwarf has accumulated over time from a younger star in its close proximity.”It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data,” said Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who specializes in nova events, in a statement. “It’ll fuel the next generation of scientists.”Between now and September, scientists expect that a nova in the Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown, of the Milky Way will send a flash so powerful into space that the naked eye can witness it, NASA announced recently. It will materialize in a dark spot in the constellation, where violent interactions between a white dwarf and a red giant are set to culminate in this massive blast.A red giant is a dying star in the final phase of its life cycle, becoming increasingly turbulent as it expands and periodically expels material from its outer layers in intense episodes.A red giant star and white dwarf orbit each other in this animation of a nova similar to T Coronae Borealis. The red giant is a large sphere in shades of red, orange, and white, wit …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnA rare eruption of light from a dead star will likely be visible to people on Earth this summer in a fleeting but potentially stark celestial display that scientists are calling “a once-in-a-lifetime event.”The technical term for the impending cosmic explosion is nova, which happens when a white dwarf lights up suddenly and often strikingly in the night sky. “White dwarf” is how astronomers describe a star at the end of its life cycle, after it has exhausted all of its nuclear fuel and only its core remains. As opposed to a supernova — another solar phenomenon visible from Earth, when a star effectively explodes — a nova instead refers to a dramatic ejection of material that a white dwarf has accumulated over time from a younger star in its close proximity.”It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data,” said Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who specializes in nova events, in a statement. “It’ll fuel the next generation of scientists.”Between now and September, scientists expect that a nova in the Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown, of the Milky Way will send a flash so powerful into space that the naked eye can witness it, NASA announced recently. It will materialize in a dark spot in the constellation, where violent interactions between a white dwarf and a red giant are set to culminate in this massive blast.A red giant is a dying star in the final phase of its life cycle, becoming increasingly turbulent as it expands and periodically expels material from its outer layers in intense episodes.A red giant star and white dwarf orbit each other in this animation of a nova similar to T Coronae Borealis. The red giant is a large sphere in shades of red, orange, and white, wit …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
