Scientists have predicted an event that will be the first of its kind and will happen in just five years time. In 2022, two binary stars (stars that orbit one another and also share the same atmosphere) will merge and explode creating a massive supernova that will be clearly visible for everyone here on Earth to be able to witness the monumental event.
The prediction has been made by Lawrence Molnar, professor in Grand Rapids, Michigan, his fellow colleagues and his students and was announced just recently at the Apache Point Observatory (APO) in New Mexico and the University of Wyoming. Molnar stated, “It’s a one-in-a-million chance that you can expect an explosion. It’s never been done before.” The announcement was made at the 229th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Grapevine, Texas.
In 2013, the binary pair of stars, called KIC 9832227, had a sudden change in brightness which was recorded by Karen Kinemuchi of APO which got the attention of Molnar. It was then discovered that the orbital period of the binary was getting shorter, which is potential because the two stars are getting nearer to each other.
The new data was compared against data taken from an incident in 2008, where contact binary V1309 Scorpii had a decreasing orbital period that produced a red nova. Molnar said, “Bottom line is we think our emerging star hypothesis should be taken seriously right now and we should be using the next few years to study this intensely so that if it does blow up, we will know what led to that explosion.”
One the merge and the explosion have taken place in 2022; the red supernova will be visible in the sky as part of the constellation Cygnus, which is found in the Northern Cross star pattern. So, mark your diary and get ready for the event of a lifetime.
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