CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Earlier this year, scientists across the globe saw signs that a star system 3,000 lightyears away was ready to "rise from the dead."
That means it’s time to look for zombie stars in the night sky!
According to NASA, roughly every 80 years, a star system known as T Coronae Borealis experiences a violent explosion, igniting the surface of one of its stars. The explosion is so significant that it's visible from Earth with the naked eye!
Padi Boyd, an astrophysicist at NASA, says the last sighting was in 1946. Based on previous sightings, scientists predict the star will go nova sometime within the next two years.
She says exact predictions can be tricky when you’re talking about something 3,000 lightyears away. However, in past experiences, the brightness of the star dimmed before the eruption, so they’re keeping a close eye on that pattern.
“[Pre-nova dimming] is being observed many times a day by astronomers all over the world,” Boyd said. “So we know that the system is getting ready to blow, but we just don't know exactly when we know it will happen.”
Boy says "zombie star" is a nickname for a star that is dead and has come back to life because it is "undead." You may have heard it referred to as a white dwarf. The sun will likely evolve into one of these stars in approximately 5 billion years.
“When it stops burning hydrogen at the core, it has nothing to make it shine anymore," Boyd explained. "So it just cools and it gets a very dense core.
These white dwarfs have companion stars called red giants because they are in a binary system. The white dwarfs suck up hydrogen from the red giant like a vampire. This helps the explosion, or nova, happen, allowing spectacular views from Earth's surface.
Boyd says she and the other scientists are really excited to learn more about the process of the nova.
“Things like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, neon lithium, they're actually created in nova explosions and how that gets dispersed impacts the planets that are forming," Boyd said.
Boyd says anyone who wants to see the zombie star should familiarize themselves with the night sky. Know where to look, particularly the western sky after sunset. The zombie star will look similar to the comet that was visible a few weeks ago.
“T Corona Borealis is a Northern Hemisphere constellation so get to know the stars that you can see every night," Boyd explained. "You'll start to get that pattern in your mind. Then, when the nova happens and you hear about it, you can go out and you'll see a new star, one more star in that constellation than you saw before.”
Contact Brittany Van Voorhees at bvanvoorhe@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
