Spectacular collision of suns will create new star in night sky in 2022

At the beginning of the 3rd century civil war raged in Britain as the Roman emperor Septimius Severus sought to quell unrest in the north.

But unknown to the fighting cohorts and Caledonian tribes, high above their heads two stars were coming together in a huge cataclysmic explosion.

Now 1800 years later the light from that collision will finally arrive on Earth creating a new star in the night sky - dubbed the ‘Boom Star - in an incredibly rare event which is usually only spotted through telescopes.

Before their meeting the two stars were too dim to be seen by the naked eye, but in 2022, the newly formed Red Nova will burn so brightly in the constellation Cygnus that everyone will be able to to see it.

“For the first time in history, parents will be able to point to a dark spot in the sky and say, ‘Watch, kids, there’s a star hiding in there, but soon it’s going to light up,” said Dr Matt Walhout, dean for research and scholarship at Calvin College, Michigan, where the prediction was made.

For around six months the Boom Star will be one of the brightest in the sky before gradually dimming, returning to its normal brightness after around two to three years.

It is the first time scientists have ever predicted the birth of a new star and astronomers in Britain said it would be a fascinating and important event which is likely to trigger a race to be the first to record the phenomenon.

Dr Robert Massey, of the Royal Astronomical Society, said: “What we’re talking about you might literally call the birth of a new star which should be very visible.

Septimius Severus (Lucius Septimius Severus Augustus), also known as Severus, was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the cursus honorum -- the customary succession of offices -- under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of Emperor Pertinax in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors. After deposing and killing the incumbent emperor Didius Julianus, Severus fought his rival claimants, the Roman generals Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus. Niger was defeated in 194 at the Battle of Issus in Cilicia. Later that year Severus waged a short punitive campaign beyond the eastern frontier, annexing the Kingdom of Osroene as a new province. Severus defeated Albinus three years later at the Battle of Lugdunum in Gaul. After consolidating his rule over the western provinces, Severus waged another brief, more successful war in the east against the Parthian Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 197 and expanding the eastern frontier to the Tigris. He then enlarged and fortified the Limes Arabicus in Arabia Petraea. In 202 he campaigned in Africa and Mauretania against the Garamantes; capturing their capital Garama and expanding the Limes Tripolitanus along the southern desert frontier of the empire. Late in his reign he travelled to Britain, strengthening Hadrian's Wall and reoccupying the Antonine Wall. In 208 he invaded Caledonia (modern Scotland), but his ambitions were cut short when he fell fatally ill in late 210. He proclaimed as Augusti (co-emperors) his elder son Caracalla in 198 and his younger son Geta in 209. Severus died in early 211 at Eboracum (today York, England), and was succeeded by his sons, thus founding the Severan dynasty. It was the last dynasty of the Roman empire before the Crisis of the Third Century. [Emperor Septimius Severus 14 April 193 – 4 February 211]

Romans in Britain - Septimius Severus

Britain's governor at the time was almost certainly Lucius Alfenus Senecio. He features in nine British inscriptions, all found in the north of England. Four of them are from forts on Hadrian's Wall, and one records the restoration of the outpost-fort at Risingham (a dozen or so miles along Dere Street, beyond the Wall). The inscription (as restored) from Risingham reads:
"For the Emperor-Caesars, Lucius Septimus Severus Pius Pertinax Arabicus Adiabenicus Parthicus Maximus, thrice consul, and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius, twice consul, the [two] Augusti, and for Publius Septimus Geta, the most noble Caesar, the First Cohort of Vangiones, one thousand strong, part-mounted, with its own tribune Aemilius Salvianus, restored from ground-level this gate and its walls, which had collapsed through age, by order of His Excellency Alfenus Senecio, consular governor, Oclatinius Adventus, procurator of our [two] emperors, having charge."
The reference to Caracalla "twice consul" dates the inscription 205–207. [The Caledonian Campaigns of Septimius Severus]

Nearly 2,000 years ago, York was the most important place in the western hemisphere. The Roman Emperor had taken up residence and thousands of social climbers from all corners of the empire flocked to the city to be part of the scene. The man attracting all the fuss was Septimius Severus, the first black citizen to hold Rome's highest office. For the final three years of his reign, he made York his home and brought to the city a cosmopolitan period of culture, fashion and importance that has not been matched since. [New exhibition about Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at the Yorkshire Museum]

Edward Gibbon thought that the decline of the Roman Empire began with Severus (b. AD 145). He came from Leptis Magna, a thriving port with a fine natural harbour in what is now Libya, near Tripoli. His mother belonged to an influential Roman family, but his father was Carthaginian. The future emperor grew up speaking Latin with a provincial accent and his biographer Anthony Birley called him Rome's 'first truly provincial emperor'. He went to Rome in his teens and his mother's family helped him on his ambitious way up until in 191 he was made governor of Upper Pannonia, covering parts of today's Hungary, Austria and Bosnia. In 193, at his suggestion and promises of reward, his troops proclaimed him emperor after the murder of the Emperor Pertinax by the Praetorian Guard. Severus led his army swiftly to Italy, took Rome and over the next four years crushed the rival claimants. He ruled Rome as a military dictator, with his sons Caracalla and Geta as Caesars. At substantial expense he beautified his native city of Leptis Magna, whose ruins are considered the most impressive in Roman Africa and include a triumphal arch in his honour as well as an arena that seats 50,000 spectators. He built a new forum as well as the 'hunting baths' decorated with scenes including a leopard hunt. After successful campaigns in the Near East and Africa, in 208 he took Caracalla and Geta with him to Britain. Though by this time suffering agonies from gout, or perhaps arthritis, he led an invasion of Caledonia (Scotland)... the Caledonians avoided battles... all the way up to the Moray Firth or beyond... Exhausted, ill and ready to die, Severus returned to York and ordered himself a cremation urn. When he saw it, he told it: 'You will hold a man that the world could not hold.' There was a story that Caracalla tried to bribe the doctors to hasten his father's end. When the emperor did expire, aged 65, the troops acclaimed his two sons as joint emperors. The brothers went back to Rome where Caracalla had Geta murdered the following year. [Emperor Septimius Severus dies at York | Richard Cavendish | Published in History Today Volume 61 Issue 2 February 2011]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.