Every eighty years or so a white dwarf star that rotates around a red giant in the constellation of Corona Borealis (Northern Crown) becomes unstable and explodes with incredible ferocity. From magnitude +10 the brightness of the binary system can elevate to +2, making it briefly visible to the naked eye (That's about as bright as Polaris, the Pole Star.
Exactly when this will take place cannot be predicted with pinpoint accuracy, so I'll try to photograph Corona for the rest of the month and hope to get lucky! The photos (taken last night) show the location of the constellation and the position of the supernova: it lies in the west between the two bright stars Vega and Arcturus.
No comments:
Post a Comment