http://earthsky.org/space/star-predicted-to-explode-in-2022
First predicted Nova will be visible from Earth:
Astronomer Larry Molnar and his colleagues and students have made an unprecedented prediction of a star explosion – due in the year 2022, or thereabouts, they say – that’ll become visible from Earth, even to those without telescopes. The star system is an eclipsing binary system (one star passes in front of the other as seen from Earth) called known as KIC 9832227. New evidence suggests that these two very close stars are getting closer and will merge explosively, soon. Molnar is presenting his findings today (January 6, 2017) at the 229th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Texas.
He said the prediction, originally made in 2015, of the merging of the two stars in the KIC 9832227 system is “progressing from theory to reality” and he added:
It’s a one-in-a-million chance that you can predict an explosion. It’s never been done before.
Molnar and colleagues’ prediction is that the two stars in the KIC 9832227 system will get closer and closer and finally merge and explode in 2022, give or take a year. When that happens, he says, the star will increase its brightness 10 thousandfold, temporarily becoming a bright star in Earth’s sky.
The star will be visible as part of the constellation Cygnus, and will add a star to the recognizable Northern Cross star pattern.
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If this happens...
- I got no ads there...