"Keep Looking Up!"

[Recusant]

. . . The immortal phrase used by the late Jack Horkheimer to encourage people to explore the joys of the sky.

He of the unabashed toupee and irrepressible enthusiasm for astronomical observation, appearing for decades in brief vignettes on American public television. Not that I needed the encouragement, but he was good for keeping up with the dance of the planets etc.

In this instance a not particularly spectacular appearance by a recurrent nova on an eighty year cycle. Not sure if the Corona Borealis is visible in the Southern Hemisphere at this time of year, but that's the constellation in which T Coronae Borealis (T CrB, or the "Blaze Star") can be found.

"A nova explosion may soon be visible in the night sky. Here's where and when to look" | PBS

The stars aren't fixed and unchanging, unlike what many ancient people thought. Once in a while, a star appears where there wasn't one before, and then it fades away in a matter of days or weeks.

The earliest record of such a "guest star," named so by ancient Chinese astronomers, is a star that suddenly appeared in skies around the world on July 4, 1054. It quickly brightened, becoming visible even during the day for the next 23 days.

Astronomers in Japan, China and the Middle East observed this event, as did the Anasazi in what is now New Mexico.

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.

I am a space scientist with a passion for teaching physics and astronomy. I love photographing the night sky and astronomical events, including eclipses, meteor showers and once-in-a-lifetime astronomical events such as the T CrB nova. T CrB will become, at best, the 50th brightest star in the night sky – brighter than only half the stars in the Big Dipper. It might take some effort to find, but if you have the time, you'll witness a rare event.

[Continues . . .]

Another article about the Blaze Star.

[T]his recurring nova is only one of five in our galaxy. This happens because Blaze Star is really two stars. It's a binary system with a white dwarf and red giant. The stars are close enough that as the red giant becomes unstable from its increasing temperature and pressure and begins ejecting its outer layers, the white dwarf collects that matter onto its surface. The shallow, dense atmosphere of the white dwarf eventually heats enough to cause a runaway thermonuclear reaction, which produces the nova we see from Earth.

[Continues . . .]

Star chart of Corona Borealis with red circle indicating location of star T CrB, or Blaze Star.
Image credit: IAU/ Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

[Dark Lightning]

I'd really like to see this flare first-hand. It'll depend on seeing conditions, and if I can see it during waking hours. I deprived myself of many years of sleep in my drive to make a living, and I treasure it now. Thanks for the reminder. I'll have to check it out.

[Icarus]

I was a fan of Horkheimer in days gone by. He was a fun guy who made astronomy interesting. Actually he cost me quite a few dollars in the long run. That's because I bought telescopes, various expensive eyepieces along with other gadgetry..  I never had a big telescope but I did have an eight inch reflector, which some folks might consider big. I still have a four inch refractor that I use more for bird watching than stargazing.

I gave up after a while because of light pollution in my city. I'd have had to drive 20 miles or more to find a darker place and I rarely did that.