Ground breaking theories can be exciting. Which is why these two West Michigan Calvin College astronomers are excited to find out out that a star is going to explode.
But it is not going to explode right now. They predict that the star is going to explode in 2022. The reason why Dan Van Noord, a graduate from Calvin College and Lawrence Molnar, a professor at the school, are excited is because this will give them a chance to find out why stars explode and how they explode.
For the star gazing community, this is going to be one of the biggest light shows, as reported by Fox 17 News. The Northern Cross or Cygnus is going to provide astronomers everywhere a show to behold.
Van Noord, who is currently a software engineer, recently observed the star in 2013 during a conference. He attended it with his professor, Molnar. Back then, the two were not entirely sure but then Van Noord proved that it was a contact binary star. A contact binary star are two stars close to each other that they share one atmosphere. Ultimately, these two stars will fall into each other and explode.
Van Noord figured out that that an explosion will likely occur because the orbital period kept getting shorter each day. The two have been observing the star in the last four years.
Currently, the star is not visible from the Earth. However, once it nears the final stage, it will turn into a red nova. Molnar is excited to find out what causes these binary stars to explode, the time it takes and during what types of conditions.
However, this is still a theory. If there is a chance that they are wrong, either way they know it is a once in a lifetime chance to find out, as reported by Calvin College.
Check out this video from NewsBeat Social for a more detailed look into the red nova:
