Arquivo para December 26th, 2024
An event that didn’t happen in 2025
26
Dec
Scientists predicted the formation of a star
from a white dwarf and a red giant, T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), around September, when these two would meet in a huge explosion that would be seen even with the naked eye, but it hasn’t happened yet.
They would form a nova, which unlike a supernova, which is a star “dying” – the terms are imprecise astronomically and are only didactic – a nova is the birth of a star, so the phenomenon of life and death in the universe is very common and wonderful.
The formation of a nova occurs from the approach of a White Dwarf, which is a body with a very dense mass comparable to the Sun and a small volume comparable to Earth, as there is no fusion inside the White Dwarf its luminosity is weak, while the Red Giant has a low or intermediate luminosity, in which there is a process of fusion of hydrogen into helium.
The approach of the two forms a new star and this “explosion” is what was predicted for this year, so for now, T Coronae Borealis, is a binary star (a white dwarf and a red giant) whose fusion will form a star with this name, because it is located near the constellation of Coronae Borealis.
A Supernova, on the other hand, occurs when a “giant sun” with a mass greater than 10 times our Sun, explodes and reaches the end of its life and also produces a very intense glow, forming either a neutron star or a black hole, the best known of which is Betelgeuse (or Alpha Orionis because it is in the constellation of Orion) saw a drop in brightness in October, which could be an indication that its explosion is near, but no date has been set.
T Coronae Borelis is about 75 light years from our Sun, which is relatively close in terms of astronomical location; Alpha Centauri, our neighboring galaxy, is 4,367 light years away.
It’s the cycle of life in the universe too, and explosions and flares in Novas and Supernovae not only give an intense glow, but also indicate a new reality for celestial bodies.
