Will nova explosion 'star' shine over Ohio soon? Why NASA is excited about T Coronae Borealis
Astronomers have been patiently waiting for a "new star" to glow in the skies above Ohio and across the world.
That "new star" will appear when the star T Coronae Borealis goes nova. It was originally expected to happen last year, but there are now signs that the explosion is nearing, according to NASA.
T Coronae Borealis, a binary star system about 3,000 light years away, is usually far too dim to see with the naked eye. However, after the star goes nova, the system is expected to be as bright as the North Star, Polaris. The star goes nova every 80 years or so, and last exploded in 1946, per NASA.
The star could go nova at any time in the next few months, according to the May 2025 skywatching guide produced by NASA.
"Predicting exactly when novas or any sort of stellar outburst will happen is tricky," the guide states. It was originally expected to go nova between February and September 2024.
However, excitement about the nova has grown since astronomers observed the star suddenly dim, per NASA, much as it did right before its previous nova.
T Coronae Borealis is a binary star system made up of a red giant and a white dwarf.
According to NASA, the white dwarf orbits the red giant closely enough that it continually grabs hydrogen from the bigger star. When the white dwarf has accumulated enough of the other star's hydrogen, it ignites a thermonuclear explosion, causing the nova. This happens every 80 years or so.
T Coronae Borealis is located in the constellation Corona Borealis, or the Northern Crown, between the two bright stars Arcturus and Vega. Use the Big Dipper's handle to point you to the correct part of the sky.
The star is normally far too faint to see with the unaided eye. But its nova will be as bright as the constellation's brightest star.
Try looking for it on clear, dark nights before the nova happens, so you'll have a comparison when a new star suddenly becomes visible there.
The word "nova" comes from the Latin word meaning "new." In astronomical terms, it can seem like there's a new star in the heavens even though that star might be very old and at the end stages of its life. During a nova event, explains NASA, energy explodes from a white dwarf star.
Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist specializing in nova events at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said white dwarf stars aren't much larger than planet Earth but are much more massive. Usually, they're too dim to see at night, but when a nova happens, the sudden explosion can make the star shine brightly enough to be viewed with the naked eye from trillions of miles away.
Stars don't always play nice with each other, say experts. Most stars are bound by gravity to one or more companion stars, and things can get interesting — or violent — if these stars get too close.
Sometimes when a small white dwarf star orbits a regular star, it can siphon off the larger star's energy. That's because a white dwarf star has about the same mass as Earth's sun, Hounsell said. Its gravity is extremely powerful, not as strong as a black hole, according to Chicago's Adler Planetarium, but roughly 100,000 to 300,000 times the gravity on Earth.
"So material is being pulled away from the companion star by the gravity of the white dwarf," Hounsell said. "This material builds up in layers onto the white dwarf's surface and the layers get really, really hot, but the material can't expand."
Eventually, the pressure and heat trigger a massive thermonuclear explosion, Hounsell said, which is called a nova.
A supernova is the final, fiery explosion that can destroy a dying star. It can briefly outshine entire galaxies, writes Space.com, and radiate more energy than our sun will produce in its entire lifetime. But while supernovas occur only once, a nova can happen again and again.
After a nova explosion, the dwarf star remains intact and the cycle triggering another explosion starts over, which NASA says can take tens, hundreds or even thousands of years.
The nova should last roughly a week, Hounsell said, reaching peak brightness in its first few days before fading away.
The following free astronomy apps can help you locate stars, planets, and constellations.
SkyView Lite for iPhone | Google Play
Star Walk 2 for iPhone | Google Play
Star Chart for iPhone | Google Play
for iPhone | Google Play
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Will T Coronae Borealis nova create 'new star' over Ohio? NASA is excited
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