Once-in-a-lifetime star explosion, visible from Earth, could happen any day now (2024)

FAQs

Once-in-a-lifetime star explosion, visible from Earth, could happen any day now? ›

A spectacular celestial event is expected to happen as astronomers predict a "once-in-a-lifetime" view of an astronomical explosion any night now. T Coronae Borealis, commonly known as the "Blaze Star," is a pair of stars located 3,000 light-years away from Earth.

“A star is 100 light years away from the Earth. If it explodes today, how much time will this explosion be visible to the people on the Earth?” If the explosion occurred today, it would mean that we would not see the explosion for roughly 100 years.

Supernova 1987A made international news when, in February of 1987, the explosion of a star could be seen on Earth. Before that, the last supernova visible to the naked eye was in 1604.

In the second half of 2024, a nova explosion in the star system called T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB, will once again be visible to people on Earth. T CrB will appear 1,500 times brighter than usual, but it won't be as spectacular as the event in 1054.

A "star" that hasn't been seen since 1946 will appear once again in the night sky, and astronomers are determined to get a glimpse of the once-in-a-lifetime event. The "star" is an explosion, also known as a nova event, that happens around once every 80 years.

The nova, a binary system comprising two stars in the constellation Corona Borealis, bursts into view about every 80 years. These nova explosions are not unusual, but T Corona Borealis (TCrB) is close enough and bright enough that it will be visible to the naked eye, which is rarer.

Earth would receive radiation that's about a hundred times stronger from the closer event. A supernova within 30 light years would be catastrophic, severely depleting the ozone layer, disrupting the marine food chain and likely causing mass extinction.

A red dwarf, which is half as massive as the sun, can last 80 to 100 billion years, which is far longer than the universe's age of 13.8 billion years. This long lifetime is one reason red dwarfs are considered to be good sources for planets hosting life, because they are stable for such a long time.

The last recorded outburst from T Coronae Borealis -- which includes a cool, red giant star and a hot, white dwarf star -- was in 1946, according to the space agency, which forecasts it will do so again before September 2024.

Is it possible that Betelgeuse already exploded? ›

This red supergiant has dimmed repeatedly in the past few years, which could mean that it's ready to go full supernova quite soon—and by “soon” we mean within the next 10,000 years. Actually, since it's some 500 light-years away, it's possible that it already exploded and we just don't know it yet.

Betelgeuse is about 17 Solar masses and will become a supernova leaving a neutron star of about 1.5 solar masses (best guess). Not massive enough to become a Black Hole.

Michael Boyle has answered: Extremely Unlikely

And since you can only see around 6,000 stars with the naked eye, that's still not enough to make it likely that any of the stars you can see has died by the time you see it. That's not to say it can't happen; just that it's not likely.

Observation history. Compared to a star's entire history, the visual appearance of a supernova is very brief, sometimes spanning several months, so that the chances of observing one with the naked eye are roughly once in a lifetime.

After a core collapse supernova, all that remains is a dense core and hot gas called a nebula. When stars are especially large, the core collapses into a black hole.

When the helium fuel runs out, the core will expand and cool. The upper layers will expand and eject material that will collect around the dying star to form a planetary nebula. Finally, the core will cool into a white dwarf and then eventually into a black dwarf. This entire process will take a few billion years.