You’ll Soon Be Able to See a ‘new’ Star in the Night Sky
A “new” star will appear in the sky in the next few months and should be visible to the naked eye. From now until September, a star usually so dim it can’t be seen, T Coronae Borealis. It will explode into view, making it appear as if a new star has suddenly appeared in the constellation Corona Borealis, or the Northern Crown. Scientists predict that T Corona Borealis will be as bright as Polaris, so you won’t need binoculars or a telescope to see it, and it will remain in the sky for a full week before fading back into the darkness of space.
What you will actually see if you look into the sky at the right moment is the outburst of the nova T Coronae Borealis, a recurring nova located approximately 2,560 light-years from Earth. T Coronae Borealis (“T-Cor” to its friends) is a binary star system consisting of a white dwarf star and a red giant star in an interdependent relationship: the white dwarf constantly steals matter from its red giant buddy, and about Every 80 years, enough material accumulates to support nuclear fusion reactions, resulting in a significant increase in brightness that makes the white dwarf visible from our distant planet.
When can you see a “new” star?
Even though the events that led/will lead to (this is relative) T-Corus becoming visible on Earth happened 2560 years ago, we don’t know the exact moment when that shit happened, so the date of T-Corus’ expected appearance is cannot be installed. There’s no way to predict for sure other than “probably sometime between tonight and September.” When T-Cor does appear, it is expected to be visible for a week, brightest on the first day and gradually fading. When not in nova form, T Coronae Borealis is a dim star of magnitude 10 , but it should brighten to 2nd magnitude in just a few hours, making it easily visible to the naked eye.
Where to look for T Coronae Borealis in the sky
If you are in the northern hemisphere, between latitudes +90° and -50°, look north and find the small semicircle of stars that make up the constellation Corona Borealis. (You can save yourself a lot of hassle by using an astronomy app or stargazing map like Night Sky for iOS.) T Coronae Borealis will appear somewhere in the constellation, but its exact position depends on the time it appears. However, this will not be difficult to notice if you look at the constellation – it will be much brighter than the stars that surround it.