Exploding Star May Be Seen From Earth

fjordboy writes "The star Rho Cas, which can be seen by the naked eye from the Northern Hemisphere, is showing signs that it may be exploding in the near future. Rho exploded in 2000, creating a cloud of gas over 10,000 times the size of earth (which isn't all that large in space scales), however, the same star is showing signs of collapsing which may point to a much larger explosion in the near future, which should be large enough to be seen by backyard astronomers with little to no specialized equipment. MSNBC has more info, Space.com also has the story here and here."

Comments

Wow

[GigsVT]

That star must be pretty damn close if it exploded in 2000 and we can already see it.

So which is it?

[matth]

Rho Cas, as it is often referred to, is visible to skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere who have dark sky conditions away from city lights, prompting the astronomers to suggest that amateurs might spot the next explosion.

But then they go on to say:
An eruption would pose no danger to Earth, and in fact would likely be spotted only by seasoned skywatchers who know how to navigate the sea of stars surrounding the relatively dim Rho Cas.

Re:So which is it?

[jesterzog]

Most of the experienced skywatchers in the world are amateurs. Professional astronomy hardly ever involves directly looking at the sky. The amateurs are the people who go out on their own initiative and look at the sky, get to know small regions containing thousands of stars (or more), and can often immediately spot any change and report it. Back yard astronomers frequently provide historical observation data that professionals refer to later on when it's relevant to whatever they're studying.

Supernova 1987A was first discovered by several such people who've spent most of their lives learning where the stars should be, and could immediately tell that something was different.

Re:So which is it?

[msheppard]

The stars of a constillation are assigned greek letters in order of their brightness (roughly). So the brightest star in a constillation is alpha. Rho (a little p) is the 17th letter in the greek alphabet so 'rho cas' will be the 17th brightest star in the constalltion cassiopia. Go outside some night, find the big W and see how many of its stars you can see. If you can see more than 17 you can see 'rho cas.'

Rho Cas is magnitude 4.51. The lower the number the brighter the star. Magnitude 1 is a very easily seen star. 2 is pretty easy to see from most locations. Magnitude 3, you're gonna need to be away from a city. Mag 4 you need to be in the country really. Mag 5 you better have binocs or a scope.

BTW: The space station is often mag -1, and can be found with ease using the tools at www.heavens-above.com .

PPS: My advice on getting into astronomy, get some software (skymap.com / starrynight) THEN get some good binocs (tons of astronomy buying guides online) THEN maybe get a scope or ten.

(Then convert your webcam to work on your star-drive scope and hook it to an 802.11b laptop and do some star gazing from your living room)

M@

Nova, this is a Nova

[pease1]

Traditionally, events of this sort are called nova by astronomers.

Nova events that are visible to the naked eye don't happen every day, but aren't all that uncommon. In my 20 years of being an active amateur astronomer, I've seen a half dozen or so. Most are very dim and require the use of some sort of chart to tell the nova from nearby stars.

When they are this dim, it is a requirement to get out under dark skys and away from the CRT or LCD.

Nova events that don't get as bright as six or seventh magnitude require some sort of optical aid - perhaps just binoculars - to see. These sorts of events happen all the time.

At mag 4.5 this is a pretty bright star (greek letter named stars usually are pretty bright since they were cataloged hundreds of years ago before the invention of the telescope).

Thus, this one might get bright enough to actually be pretty easy to see. Only time will tell.

After all, as far as we know, some other star has gone supernova and the light will only reach Earth today in the form of an daylight object, or something that is as bright as Venus or even the Moon.

Re:Impending black hole?

[mcfiddish]

So, is this a black hole waiting to happen?

It depends on what's left after the supernova explosion. If the mass of the remnant is less than 1.4 solar, it's a white dwarf. If it's more than 1.4 and less than 3.2 solar, it's a neutron star. If it's more than 3.2 solar, it's a black hole

Now to locate it

[Shamanin]

location

If only we could mount some lasers on stars to project those helpful constellation lines.

Pedantic correction

[Spamalamadingdong]

The plural of "nova" is "novae", pronounced "noh-vee".

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