A bright new star will burst into the sky in five years, astronomers predict

washingtonpost.com ^ | January 6 at 11:15 AM | Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.

[BenLurkin]

A team of astronomers is making a bold forecast: A binary star found in the summer constellation Cygnus the swan will burst into a red nova sometime in 2022.

When the two stars in the binary system crash into one another, they will create a brick-red beacon so bright that sky gazers will see it with the naked eye, Larry Molnar of Calvin College said Friday at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Grapevine, Tex.

As the constellation Cygnus glides gracefully along the Milky Way every late spring and summer, the cosmic bird’s left wing houses a faint binary star called KIC 9832227. The two stars spinning around one another are merging, on a path to an explosion that will result in a red nova, said Molnar and his colleagues.

[roadcat]

Is that really from 2017??

It was a 1968 Nova. I thought it was cool, but it wasn't. It was just a plain 4-dr sedan. I had an earlier 1964 Cutlass, now that was a cool little car. I luckily sold it (for $50) before the front suspension broke on the new owner.