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A Star Just Exploded in The Sky, And It Is Easy to Observe
https://www.sciencealert.com ^ | 23 MARCH 2021 | MICHELLE STARR

Posted on 03/23/2021 6:11:25 AM PDT by Red Badger

The nova (left) and the same patch of sky four days earlier. (Yuji Nakamura/NAOJ)

According to reports in The Astronomer's Telegram, a star in the region of the constellation of Cassiopeia has just gone nova, and the glow is still visible in the night sky. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere and have even a basic telescope, you might want to head out and point it in that direction.

The first detection was made on 18 March 2021 by amateur astronomer Yuji Nakamura from the Mie Prefecture in Japan. In four frames captured using a 135-millimeter lens and a 15-second exposure, a bright, magnitude 9.6 glow was visible where none had been just four days earlier.

The find was quickly reported to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and scientists zeroed in to find out what was going on.

Using Kyoto University's Seimei Telescope, astronomers at the NAOJ and Kyoto University conducted spectroscopic observations, and used the 0.4-meter telescope at Kyoto University for multi-color photometric observations.

They confirmed that the event is indeed what we classify as a classical nova, the most common of the stellar explosions, and gave it the name V1405 Cas.

A classical nova is not the huge kaboom of a massive star, but an explosion on the surface of a white dwarf with a main-sequence binary companion on a close orbit - generally less than 12 hours. As the two stars whirl around each other, the tiny dense white dwarf siphons hydrogen from its larger, fluffier companion.

This hydrogen ends up in the smaller star's atmosphere, where it is heated up. When the hydrogen gets hot and dense enough, nuclear fusion is triggered on the white dwarf's surface, releasing a tremendous amount of energy that explosively ejects the unburned hydrogen into space.

Unlike a Type Ia supernova, in which the white dwarf explodes, both stars survive and continue their weird relationship, to explode again another day. The nova itself can continue to glow for some days or months.

It's not immediately clear which star produced V1405 Cas, but there is a strong candidate: the eclipsing variable (binary) star CzeV3217, which lies at an approximate distance of 5,500 light-years from the Solar System.

Further observations will help astronomers better understand the nova, and confirm that the source is indeed CzeV3217.

nova map (Yuji Nakamura/NAOJ)

Because stellar explosion events like these are so unpredictable, they're not always easy to catch quickly, so the discovery of V1405 Cas is pretty exciting.

If you want to get out there and try to see it for yourself, its coordinates are at right ascension 23 24 47.73, declination +61 11 14.8 - not far from the Cassiopeia star Caph, and an even shorter distance from B-type star HIP 115566.

While you're out there, keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Astronomy; History; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; cassiopeia; czev3217; michellestarr; nova; nvj232447606111140; science; stringtheory; v1405cas
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To: minnesota_bound

It just went.....................


61 posted on 03/23/2021 12:25:02 PM PDT by Red Badger ("We've always been at war with Climate Change, Winston."..............................)
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To: Red Badger
"You’re just asking for a picture of Helen Thomas, aren’t you?............."

Shhhhhhhh....
Don't ask... I won't tell....

62 posted on 03/23/2021 12:25:52 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is Joe McCarthy now that we desperately need him sober?)
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To: Red Badger
“This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your minutes. Thank you.”

-PJ

63 posted on 03/23/2021 12:33:03 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (Freedom of the press is the People's right to publish, not CNN's right to the 1st question.)
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To: Texas Eagle

you pretty much nailed it as I see it. time and space for that matter is a construct of god. God is outside of “time” so to speak.


64 posted on 03/23/2021 1:23:25 PM PDT by gdc61 (LOL not.)
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To: gdc61
Yes. That's the amazing part. It's a construct of God but it is only observable, or, I should say, experience-able my man.

That's why He came to earth in the form of Yeshua ha Meshiach (Jesus, The Anointed One). So He could experience it for Himself and identify with us and our struggles.

Damn! I just got chills up my spine!

65 posted on 03/23/2021 1:34:42 PM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all.)
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To: Texas Eagle

...what would God consider a day...
The thought occurred to me years back that we, today, being in the last day, the 7th day, a “day” is at least as long as from the end of the sixth day until now.
there’s the real conundrum. ! except the next question was how long is a morning and an evening?


66 posted on 03/23/2021 1:36:29 PM PDT by gdc61 (LOL not.)
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To: Texas Eagle

you nailed it again!


67 posted on 03/23/2021 1:38:32 PM PDT by gdc61 (LOL not.)
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To: Texas Eagle

LOL, my mother calls em holy ghost bumps ! have a great day FRiend !


68 posted on 03/23/2021 1:45:10 PM PDT by gdc61 (LOL not.)
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To: gdc61
...the next question was how long is a morning and an evening?

And why did a "day" begin at evening? Isn't that weird? It's almost as if God knew from the very beginning that we would get everything backwards.

Big Smarty Pants.

69 posted on 03/23/2021 1:49:52 PM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all.)
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To: Texas Eagle

LOL


70 posted on 03/23/2021 1:51:35 PM PDT by gdc61 (LOL not.)
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To: gdc61

Holy Ghost bumps! I love it! Tell your mom I’m stealing that from her.


71 posted on 03/23/2021 1:53:54 PM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all.)
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To: gdc61; Texas Eagle

2 Peter 3:8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.

Time is nothing to Him.


72 posted on 03/23/2021 8:48:34 PM PDT by Redcitizen
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To: Redcitizen

Well, there ya go.. Question answered.


73 posted on 03/23/2021 9:01:15 PM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all.)
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To: Redcitizen

yes that was our conclusion as well.


74 posted on 03/24/2021 5:39:14 AM PDT by gdc61 (LOL not.)
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To: butlerweave

Correct. And the Holy Bible says clearly that God continues to expand His creation, thus it grows by the second!!


75 posted on 03/24/2021 6:32:11 AM PDT by RetiredArmy (Free Will. GOD gives you the choice I accept or reject Him! Choose Him. It depends on you.)
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