T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), Blaze Star, Nova?

[Drac0 (Mark)]

Hi all,

It's anticipated that T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), also known as Blaze Star, will become a nova sometime in the next few months. I'm just wondering what we can expect to see. Will it just look like any other star but brighter than it is normally or will we be able to capture images of some of the material being blasted off by the white dwarf?

Not something I've really looked into before but would like to record this once in a lifetime event, even if it is just capturing the changes in it's brightness over a number of nights - weather permitting of course. Thankfully it does manage to get a reasonable distance above the horizon down here.

Cheers,
Mark

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

Mark,

The star is estimated to brighten by 8 magnitudes from 10 to 2.5 +/-0.5. However it will just look like a normal star. T CrBor is 2500 light years away so it will be a very long time before any blow off material becomes visible in amateur astronomers telescopes. When it does, it will probably take the form of a planetary nebula..

Even if this happens to the closest stars, 4.2 light years away, they won’t show anything but brightening.

The best thing is to observe it through the year and follow the brightness as it flares.

Joe

[Drac0 (Mark)]

Thanks Joe.