We're About to Witness a Once in a Lifetime Space Explosion Visible From Everywhere
Summary
TLDRThe 2024 astronomical event garnering significant attention is not the solar eclipse but the rare recurrent Nova, occurring every 80 years. The focus is on T Coronae Borealis, a binary star system predicted to erupt as a Nova in 2024 based on historical patterns. This event is exceptional as it allows real-time observation of stellar processes, offering insights into the future of our Sun. The exact timing remains uncertain, but the period of April to September has been flagged as the most likely for this spectacular cosmic display.
Takeaways
- ð The most anticipated astronomical event of 2024 is the solar eclipse on April 8th, but for astronomers, another event holds significant interest.
- ð The event of interest is a recurring Nova that occurs every 80 years, which may have already happened or is imminent.
- ð The discussion revolves around understanding the nature of white dwarfs and their role in such astronomical phenomena.
- ð¥ A Nova occurs when a white dwarf absorbs mass from its companion star, leading to a massive nuclear explosion.
- ð The Nova event is predicted to be visible even in city skies with light pollution, due to its brightness of around 2.5 magnitude.
- ð Historical records suggest the periodicity of the Nova, with previous occurrences in 1866 and 1946, and predictions for the next in 2024.
- ð Observations of unusual activity in 2015, 2018, and 2023 mirror the patterns before previous Novae, supporting the prediction.
- ð The upcoming Nova is considered a once-in-a-lifetime event for observers, given its rarity and the fact that it happens every 80 years.
- ð The Nova is not just a spectacle but also a scientific opportunity to study the processes and future stages of our Sun.
- ð¡ The event has sparked interest in understanding the mysteries surrounding the binary system, including the lack of oxygen in the red giant.
- ð The video challenges viewers to predict the exact date of the Nova, hinting at a possible reward for a correct guess.
Q & A
What is the most significant astronomical event of 2024 mentioned in the transcript?
-The most significant astronomical event of 2024 mentioned is the solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024.
What is the term used to describe a star that has collapsed on itself but is unable to form a neutron star or a black hole due to insufficient mass?
-Such a star is referred to as a white dwarf, which forms electron degenerate matter to prevent further collapse.
What is a recurrent Nova and why is it a rare event?
-A recurrent Nova is a type of stellar explosion that occurs in binary star systems at regular intervals. It is rare because there are only about a dozen known recurrent Novas in the galaxy, and they have long periods between outbursts, often longer than human lifespans.
What is the historical significance of T Coronae Borealis in relation to Novae?
-T Coronae Borealis is significant because it is a well-known recurrent Nova that has been observed erupting at least twice in historical records, in 1866 and 1946, and is predicted to erupt again around 2024.
How do astronomers predict the occurrence of a Nova?
-Astronomers predict the occurrence of a Nova by analyzing historical data, observing changes in the star's brightness, radio emissions, and X-ray production, and looking for unusual dips in brightness that indicate material transfer from the red giant to the white dwarf in the binary system.
What unusual observation was made about the red giant in the binary system involving T Coronae Borealis?
-An unusual lack of oxygen was observed inside the red giant in the binary system involving T Coronae Borealis, which is currently unexplained.
What is the estimated distance of the binary system involving T Coronae Borealis from Earth?
-The binary system involving T Coronae Borealis is approximately 3,000 light years away from Earth.
What is the orbital period of the two stars in the T Coronae Borealis system?
-The two stars in the T Coronae Borealis system orbit each other every 228 days.
Why is the upcoming Nova event from T Coronae Borealis considered more significant than the solar eclipse of 2024?
-The upcoming Nova event from T Coronae Borealis is considered more significant because it is an extremely rare and bright event that may be the brightest of its kind for at least another century, offering valuable scientific observations and insights into stellar processes.
How can one participate in the prediction game mentioned in the transcript?
-To participate in the prediction game, one can leave a comment with a predicted date for the Nova event, and if the prediction is correct, there might be a surprise reward.
What is the expected visibility of the T Coronae Borealis Nova event from Earth?
-The T Coronae Borealis Nova event is expected to be visible even in a typical city with white light pollution, with a magnitude of 2.5, making it extremely easy to see.
Outlines
ð The 2024 Astronomical Event: Recurrent Nova
This paragraph introduces the astronomical event of 2024, which is not the widely discussed solar eclipse on April 8th, but rather a rare event occurring every 80 years. The focus is on a recurrent Nova, an astronomical phenomenon where a white dwarf star absorbs mass from a companion star, leading to a nuclear explosion. The discussion begins with an explanation of white dwarf stars, their formation, and their characteristics, including electron degenerate matter. The paragraph also touches on the unique situation of binary stars and how their interaction can lead to a Nova. Historical observations of Novae, including T Coronae Borealis, are mentioned, along with the prediction of its next occurrence based on past eruptions and recent observations.
ð Predicting the Recurrent Nova: Historical Patterns and Modern Science
This paragraph delves into the historical records and predictions surrounding the recurrent Nova event. It highlights the attempts to predict the occurrence of Novae based on historical data, such as the observations by Reverend Francis Williston in 1789 and Abbott Berard in the 6th century. The paragraph discusses the scientific community's efforts to pinpoint the exact date of the upcoming Nova in 2024, acknowledging the challenges and uncertainties in such predictions. It also emphasizes the rarity and significance of this event, comparing it to other known recurrent Novae and their predictability. The paragraph concludes with an invitation for viewers to participate in a guessing game to predict the date of the Nova, with a promise of a potential reward for correct predictions.
ð Upcoming Nova Event: Rarity, Significance, and Scientific Mysteries
The final paragraph discusses the exceptional nature of the upcoming Nova event, emphasizing its rarity compared to other astronomical phenomena like solar eclipses and comets. It provides insights into the binary star system 3,000 light years away, which is on the verge of a material transfer peak, indicating the imminence of the Nova explosion. The paragraph also mentions the high accuracy of previous Nova predictions, reinforcing confidence in the upcoming event's prediction. It concludes by underscoring the scientific importance of observing this event in real-time to gain insights into stellar processes and the future of our Sun, as well as mentioning the unresolved mysteries surrounding this particular system.
Mindmap
Keywords
ð¡Solar Eclipse
ð¡Recurrent Nova
ð¡White Dwarf
ð¡Binary Star System
ð¡Accretion Disc
ð¡Nuclear Detonation
ð¡T Coronae Borealis
ð¡Stellar Remnant
ð¡Electron Degenerate Matter
ð¡Historical Records
ð¡Scientific Prediction
Highlights
The biggest astronomical event of 2024 is the solar eclipse on April 8th, but for astronomers, a more interesting event is the recurrent Nova.
The recurrent Nova occurs every 80 years and is a rare opportunity to observe a phenomenon that usually isn't visible.
The Nova is a stellar remnant, a dense core of a star that has collapsed but not enough mass to form a neutron star or black hole.
White dwarfs form electron degenerate matter, preventing further collapse and maintaining their size and shape.
About half of the stars in the galaxy are binary, and their interaction can lead to unique effects, such as the formation of a white dwarf and a red giant.
When a red giant expands and interacts with a white dwarf, it can form an accretion disc and eventually lead to a nuclear detonation, known as a Nova.
Novae are visible as new stars, hence the name 'Nova' meaning new, and are a result of a massive nuclear explosion around the white dwarf.
The system T Coronae Borealis is known for its Novae, with the most famous eruption occurring in 1946 and predicted recurrences.
The 1946 Nova was visible without binoculars or a telescope and was one of the 100 brightest stars in the night sky.
Recent observations of T Coronae Borealis show increased activity similar to the period before the 1946 Nova, suggesting an imminent event.
The predicted date for the next Nova in T Coronae Borealis is around April plus or minus 3 months, making it a potential event from April to September 2024.
The upcoming Nova is expected to be 2.5 magnitude, extremely close to the brightness of the North Star, Polaris.
This event is once in a lifetime, occurring every 80 years, and is more rare than the solar eclipse or most other astronomical events.
Scientist Bradley Sheffer's historical research supports the 80-year recurrence period of the Nova, with records dating back to 1789 and 12177.
Observing the Nova in real-time is crucial for the scientific community to understand the processes and potential future of our Sun.
The binary system of T Coronae Borealis, with its short orbital period and material transfer, is on the brink of a significant event.
The rarity of recurrent Novae, with only about a dozen known in the galaxy, emphasizes the exceptional nature of the upcoming event.
The scientific community is eagerly awaiting the Nova to learn more about the lifecycle of stars and the mysteries surrounding them.
The upcoming Nova event is expected to be the brightest ever observed, outshining any other astronomical event for at least the next century.
Transcripts
so even though the biggest astronomical
event of 2024 is I guess the solar
eclipse on April 8th of 2024 at least
that's the one that everyone is talking
about technically for astronomers it's
not that ear it's actually the event
we're going to be discussing today and
it's a recurring event that happens
every 80 years and so basically in 2024
we get two separate opportunities to
observe something that we usually don't
get to see obviously the solar eclipse
but also what's known as a recurrent
Nova and so how wonderful person this is
Anton today we're going to discuss this
astronomical event that actually might
have already happened when you're
watching this video or it might have not
we don't actually know the exact date
yet but it's happening really really
soon or so thees scientist think but
first let's actually talk about what it
is and how all of this works and it all
starts with wide Wars these very unusual
objects we're going to be discussing
again in a video very soon because
something really important was
discovered about them but also a type of
an object that the sun is going to
become as well this is what's known as a
stellar Remnant in some sense the core
of the star itself that becomes
extremely dense and collapses on itself
but is unable to produce a neutron star
or a black hole because it just doesn't
have enough Mass but it does have enough
Mass to form what's known as electron
degenerate matter on the inside that's
able to prevent further collapse in
other words it's actually been compared
to a kind of an ocean of electrons that
because of various Quantum effects such
as the inability of electrons to be in
the same place prevents the object from
growing smaller and maintains the
overall size and shape and most of the
stars in the galaxy including our sun
are going to become one of these and
they're actually going to stay this way
for billions and billions of years wide
Wars tend to stay this way and don't
change much over a very long period of
time but the thing is about half of the
stars in the galaxy are binary and that
means that sometimes you'll actually get
two stars growing older at different
times one might have already become a
whitew Warf and one is still in its red
giant stage and if these two stars orbit
close enough they actually tend to
interact producing very specific very
unique effects one might have already
become a whitew Warf but the other one
is still going through its red giant
stage and so here as the red giant
starts to expand and starts to basically
become larger and larger sometimes it's
our layers start to interact with the
wide dwarf and in those cases wide
dwarfs will actually start absorbing a
lot of this mass and essentially create
an accretion disc around themselves
forming something similar to what you
see right here and in those cases when
these accretion discs become thick
enough or actually acquire just enough
Mass they reach a kind of instability
period where at some point within just
weeks or sometimes months they reach a
point of a nuclear detonation literally
a massive nuclear bomb explodes around
the wiw warf as most of the acction disc
suddenly turns into energy and in
essence this is what we call Nova not
super nova just Nova it's cool that
because back in the days from a distance
it looked like some kind of a new star
and Nova means new and this is basically
what we're going to be observing
sometimes in 2024 but the thing is I've
actually discussed this particular
prediction almost like a decade ago I
think possibly in 2016 this is when
originally some initial predictions
started to be made and so back then
researchers actually realized something
unusual about a system known as T Corona
Borealis A system that we already knew
was actually a Nova previously possibly
at least twice the most well-known
eruption was back in 1946 and it was
obviously studied and observed by a lot
of different astronomers but originally
this particular star was found back in
1866 80 years prior because of its
previous eruption and because normally
you're not actually going to be able to
see the star without at least binoculars
or a small telescope but in 1866 and
1946 suddenly we had a new star we had a
Nova with this lasting for just under
one week and this was a pretty bright
star it suddenly became one of the 100
brightest stars in the night skies
Technically when it happens again it's
even going to be visible in a typical
City here white pollution is not going
to hide it and so several studies from
years ago essentially analyzed the
active state in 2015 and 2016 realizing
something really strange here the star
suddenly became a little bit brighter a
little bit more active produced more
radio light produced more x-rays with
the overall increase in production
extremely similar to what happened in
1938 basically 8 years before the 1946
eruption moreover additional
observations and additional studies from
just a few years ago revealed an unusual
dip or unusual demmon event sometime in
June of 2018 and then a much larger dip
in March of 2023 basically last year and
this was extremely similar to a very
sudden dip in 1945 as you can see here
it was May to June 1945 and literally 9
to 10 months later we suddenly had this
very large very explosive event as a
result that particular paper predicted
that this Nova will probably happen in
January of
2024 well it didn't but I think it's
more it didn't yet in the past a lot of
predictions of various Nova usually
involved large timeline errors and so in
this case it's probably going to be at
least plus minus 7 months now because
this particular star is approximately
3,000 light years away from us being
able to suddenly see it with a naked eye
is already pretty impressive but what's
even more impressive is actually if you
compare this to other Nova and
specifically are the recurrent Nova
here's a very short list there's
basically like a dozen or so and most of
them are really well known and moreover
pretty much for most of them the
predictions so far have been relatively
accurate the most recent one was just
over a year ago and it was a recurring
Nova in U scorp here the peak magnitude
was approximately eight then just a year
prior to this we had an eruption from a
very famous Nova RS of fokai and this
one is known to have happened many many
times but here the brightest it's ever
been was magnitude of five sore visible
with a naked eye but kind of difficult
this though the Nova that's about to
happen is going to be 2.5 magnitude and
if you know anything about magnitudes
that's pretty bright it's extremely
close to the famous North Star or
Polaris meaning that it's going to be
extremely easily visible not as easily
visible as serus which is a little bit
brighter and actually does contain its
own wiw Warf right there but definitely
bright enough to be visible from a
typical City and moreover once again
this is one of those once in a lifetime
events it seems to happen every 80 years
and intriguingly one of the scientists
wanted to find out if the period is
really 80 years or not and so Bradley
Sheffer essentially went through various
historical records looking for signs of
unusual stars in this region and he did
find writings from Reverend Francis
Williston who back in 1789 reported an
unusual star appearing for a few days in
the location of Corona Borealis pretty
much exactly where we expect this NOA to
happen likewise sixth Century before
this in 12177 there was an eyewitness
report by Abbott Berard of absur of some
kind of a stellar source that suddenly
produced a lot of light and lasted for
many days back then he saw this as a
wonderful sign today we also see it as a
wonderful sign but for a very different
wonderful reason scientific reason it
basically reminds us that modern science
is super correct and helps us predict
events we knew nothing about just a few
hundred years ago and so I guess the
question is okay so when exactly is it
going to happen since we only have a few
days to observe it how do we make sure
we don't miss it well right now the
prediction is set for April plusus 3
months so basically April May June July
maybe August maybe September and so by
September of 2024 we should see
something the Nova should have already
happened because right now the
observations are very similar to various
PR NOA events in 1946 and just to make
this a little bit more interesting let's
turn it into a game try to predict it
leave a comment below with some kind of
a date essentially starting today up
until I guess anytime in the future when
you think this might happen and if one
of you wonderful prophets succeeds in
guessing the actual day of the Nova oh
there might be a surprise or present or
something I didn't really plan this one
yet but I don't know you might get
something possibly a t-shirt possibly
something else I'll think about it but
anyway I'm going to start I'm going to
go with a date that's kind of important
for me personally September 27th I'll
explain why a bit later so yeah as long
as you predict this before it happens
not on a day and not after I'll consider
you a winner and if a bunch of you
predict the same date I guess you're all
winners kind of anyway either way when
this happens it's going to be very
important for the scientific Community
being able to observe these events in
real time and studying what happens to
these Stars the red giant and the whitew
warf which are the same two stages our
son is going to go through as well we'll
probably teach us a little bit more
about what happens to these St and what
might happen to the Sun as well and in
case of this particular system it
already has a few mysteries for example
for some reason there seems to be an
unusual lack of oxygen inside the red
giant currently it's unknown why on top
of this the scientists want to
understand why there are so few of these
recurrent Nova out there now previous
research suggested that all Nova are
recurrent they just have very different
periods some of them happen every few
years some of them might happen every
few centuries so we basically don't live
long enough to see any of them
nevertheless because there are only like
a dozen so far known to us in the Galaxy
that by itself is a really small number
and that of course highlights how
exceptionally rare this particular event
is way more rare than the solar eclipse
and way more rare than anything else
we'll see in the next few decades okay
except for maybe Certain comets but most
comets are pretty common and so
basically in the next few months we'll
be hearing more about this binary system
3,000 light years away from us with two
tus orbiting each other every 228 days
in case you're wondering the distance
between them is approximately half as
much as the distance of Earth from the
Sun but because the transfer of material
is about to reach its peak which is
probably why we're seeing these unusual
dips it means that the exposion itself
is pretty much imminent it's definitely
going to happen any time now and the
reason I'm saying this with so much
confidence is because previous
predictions from for example us Scorpio
were also spot on as well this was
predicted years ahead had and it
happened within just a few months of the
predicted date same thing for this
particular Nova and for many others but
because this is going to be the
brightest event ever possibly the
brightest one we're going to see for at
least another Century that's why it
deserves its own video in terms of
science and astronomy this is going to
be much much bigger than the solar
eclipse and so once it does happen we'll
come back and talk more about actual
discoveries and if one of you guesses
the date we'll probably talk about the
winner and the prize until then thank
you for watching subscribe share this
with someone who loves learn about space
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you can find in description stay
wonderful I'll see you tomorrow and as
always
[Music]
bye-bye
[Music]
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