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Cosmic explosion will be visible to the naked eye in once-in-a-lifetime stargazing event (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The event, known as a nova, will be so bright that a “new” star will seem to appear in the night sky temporarily, visible to the naked eye.

A rare cosmic eruption is expected to occur in the Milky Way in the coming months — an outburst so bright that a “new” star will seemingly appear for a short time in the night sky.

The event, known as a nova, will be a once-in-a-lifetime skywatching opportunity for those in the Northern Hemisphere, according to NASA, because the types of star systems in which such explosions occur are not common in our galaxy.

The stellar eruption will take place in a system called T Coronae Borealis, which is 3,000 light-years away from Earth. It contains two stars: a dead star, also known as a “white dwarf,” closely orbited by a red giant. Red giants are dying stars that are running out of hydrogen fuel in their cores; the sun in our solar system will eventually become one, according to NASA.

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

What blows my mind is that star already exploded 3,000 years ago (give or take a few months). I know space is big, but this just hits home how mind-bogglingly big it really is.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 7 months ago

I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 7 months ago (1 children)

exploded 3,000 years ago

So the Light traveled already for 3000 light years. The furthest man made object (voyager, 1977, 50 years ago) is currently at the Helipause, just 18 Light-Hours away. Not even a light-day. Much less a light year.

It will take about 300 years to get to the inner edge of the Oort Cloud, and tens of thousands of years to get past it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

TIL the Oort cloud is thicc

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

Fair enough, but also it does that every 80 years or so.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago

Meh, that's the next street in galactic terms. The milky way is 87.000 light year in diameter.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

That is crazy. And some stars are probably exploding right now and it will only be visible by our descendants in a few thousands of years. They will look like at it wondering how it was to live in our times.