A spectacular celestial event: Nova explosion in Northern Crown constellation expected within 18 months
Artist's conception of the early stages of the explosion of T CrB. The small bright object is the white dwarf, still surrounded by material flowing from the nearby larger red giant. Image courtesy of M. Garlick
Within the next year to 18 months, stargazers around the world will witness a dazzling celestial event as a “new” star appears in the constellation Corona Borealis, also known as the Northern Crown.
For several days, this star will shine brightly, becoming one of the most luminous objects in the night sky, visible to the naked eye. However, this star is not new — it is an ancient celestial body undergoing a dramatic explosion approximately 3,000 light-years from Earth, expelling an Earth-sized mass of hot gas into space.
Leading an international research effort related to this occurrence is Sumner Starrfield, Regents Professor of astrophysics at Arizona State University, in collaboration with Maitrayee Bose at ASU and astronomers from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Oak Ridge National Laboratory-University of Tennessee, Knoxville; NSFs NOIRLab, Hilo; University of Leicester and Keele University from the United Kingdom; Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad; Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik, Potsdam; and University of Tartu, Estonia.
Their cutting-edge research incorporates general relativity to refine predictions of the nova’s behavior, offering unprecedented insights into this cosmic explosion.
The results of their study have been recently published in the Astrophysical Journal of the American Astronomical Society.
"This will be the brightest nova in the northern skies in the last 50 years, but you will have to look fast because it will only be visible to the naked eye for a few days,” Starrfield said. “We know from our study that it is ejecting elements that are necessary to life on Earth, like lithium and phosphorus.”
The source of this cosmic spectacle is T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), a binary star system consisting of a red giant and a white dwarf. The red giant, cooler yet significantly larger than our sun, transfers hydrogen-rich material onto the dense white dwarf — an Earth-sized remnant of a sun-like star with a mass 40% greater than our sun. Over time, this accumulation of gas leads to an explosive thermonuclear reaction, resulting in a nova event.
T CrB explodes approximately every 80 years, with past eruptions recorded in 1866 and 1946 — the latter discovered by a teenager in England during an early morning errand. As history suggests, T CrB is now due for its next outburst. It is also known as the “Blaze Star.”
What makes this explosion especially remarkable is that it takes place within the outer atmosphere of the red giant, an exceptionally rare occurrence in astrophysics. The colliding gases will reach extreme temperatures, exceeding millions of degrees. While the nova will be visible to the human eye, the true nature of the event will be best observed through X-ray telescopes in space, as Earth’s atmosphere blocks these high-energy emissions. It will be one of the brightest X-ray sources ever observed by X-ray telescopes.
Bose, co-author of the study and an isotope cosmochemist and associate professor at ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, analyzes samples from planetary regolith, meteorites and stardust that formed in different kinds of stars.
“Stardust grains found in extraterrestrial materials are minerals about 1,000 times smaller than a grain of rice. While less than 1% of the stardust found in meteorites originates in nova outbursts, like those in the T CrB system, the ejected dust will be enriched in carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and other rock-forming elements (e.g., Na, Mg or Al),” Bose said. “Interestingly, Professor Starrfield’s models have predicted a large abundance of lithium in nova outbursts. The nature of the dust will inform us how the shock waves interact with the surrounding interstellar medium, the elements that will be generated, and the dust-mixing phenomenon in such systems.”
Astronomers worldwide will be closely monitoring T CrB’s explosion using advanced techniques, including spectroscopy, which allows scientists to analyze the chemical composition of the expanding gas. Researchers will search for elements such as oxygen, neon, sulfur and silicon, which have been ionized by the intense heat, as well as lithium — an element crucial for modern lithium-ion batteries and believed to originate from systems like T CrB.
“Members of our team have not only taken part in the predictions of the upcoming outburst, but we have also been observing T CrB before it explodes to make sure that we fully understand the changes that will happen to the system when the exploding gases from the dense white dwarf hit the cool companion and pass into the space between the stars,” Starrfield said. “At some time in the future, these gases will combine with other material in space and form new stars."
This extraordinary event presents a rare opportunity for both professional and amateur astronomers to witness and study a stellar explosion in real time.
More Science and technology
ASU in position to accelerate collaboration between space, semiconductor industries
More than 200 academic, business and government leaders in the space industry converged in Tempe March 19–20 for the third annual Arizona Space Summit, a statewide effort designed to elevate…
ASU researcher points to fingerprints as a new way to detect drug use
Collecting urine samples, blood or hair are currently the most common ways to detect drug use, but Arizona State University researcher Min Jang may have discovered something better.Fingerprints…
Learn about the secrets of forensic science straight from the experts
Over the next week, true crime enthusiasts will have a rare opportunity to discover the secrets of forensic science as experts share techniques for tracking down criminals.Behind Crime Scene…