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Wednesday, January 11, 2017

A Star May Soon Explode, And We’ll All Get To Watch

It could be one of the biggest astronomical events in years ― a star explosion so intense it could literally change the night sky.

Astronomers are predicting that binary star system KIC 9832227, located in theCygnus constellation, will merge and explode in a “red nova” event in 2022.

And if it happens as predicted, its brightness will increase by 10,000-fold, making it one of the brightest objects in the night sky and easily visible with the naked eye, according to a Calvin College news release.

It will be a very dramatic change in the sky, as anyone can see it,” Calvin College astronomer Larry Molnar told National Geographic. “You won’t need a telescope to tell me in 2023 whether I was wrong or I was right.”

And when it’s over, there will be a new star in the Northern Cross formation.

But don’t make firm plans around watching the event. Not only is there no exact date beyond 2022 ― give or take a year ― but no one has ever really made a prediction of this nature before.

“It’s a one-in-a-million chance that you can predict an explosion,” Molnar said in the news release. “It’s never been done before.”

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great. Another reason for me to stay alive another decade.

Anonymous said...

The craziest part of this story is the stars collided somewhere around the 3rd century

Anonymous said...

Great, now a new age religion of kooks will commit suicide thinking they can ride the stardust to heaven or a new world, wearing Nikes and rolls of quarters, or something like it.

Anonymous said...

Maybe "STARS" like Glenn Close can collide with a Buick.

Anonymous said...

I got excited for a minute. I thought you meant Merrill Streep or whoopie Goldberg ;) I would love to witness one of THOSE stars explode.