What kind of star appeared in the sky? What was it? An unusually bright star appeared in the sky

Young stars prevent galaxies from growing, scientists have foundStreams of plasma emanating from stars “blow” matter out of the galaxy, so astronomers speculate that during active star formation, the material needed to form the next generation of stars may quickly run out.

MOSCOW, August 17 – RIA Novosti. The brightest nova since 1999 appeared in the sky in the constellation Delphinus - this is what astronomers call cases when the brightness of stars sharply increases, sometimes tens of thousands of times.

According to the Central Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams, the first to discover the nova was Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki. During his observations on August 14, he saw a previously unnoticed sixth magnitude star in the constellation Delphinus (adjacent to the constellations Cygnus and Aquarius). In previous photographs of the same area, Itagaki did not find any objects (at least brighter than 13th magnitude).

Later, the appearance of the nova was confirmed by astronomers from Belarus, Russia (Master telescope network at Moscow State University), and other countries. The brightness of the new star continues to grow - it has now reached magnitude 4.3. This is the brightest nova in our Galaxy since May 1999, when a new star erupted in the constellation Velae, reaching a brightness of 3.1.

“Now it can be seen with the naked eye wherever there is weather, with the exception of large cities. In terms of brightness, it has already blocked the fast nova of 2002 (V4743 Sgr), but it is unlikely to become brighter than the nova of 1999, which flared up in the southern sky, in the constellation Parusov. In any case, this is a rare phenomenon, so hurry to observe,” astronomer Leonid Elenin, an employee of the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, told RIA Novosti.

The scientist noted that, according to the star catalog of the US Navy Observatory, there was a blue star of magnitude 17.5 at this place, its index in the catalog is USNO-B1.0 1107-0509795. “Nothing was known about it, an ordinary, fairly dim star. Now we understand that it is a binary system with a white dwarf. Judging by the spectrum, the second component may be a supergiant of the F2 spectral class,” added Elenin.

Astronomers saw how young stars “blow away” the gas that gave birth to themNew stars are actively forming in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies. In the latest images from the VLT telescope, astronomers have seen in detail a contrasting pair of star formation regions: NGC 2014 and NGC 2020.

Novae outbursts are associated with explosive processes in binary star systems, one of the components of which is a white dwarf (a “burnt-out” star, where the thermonuclear reaction no longer occurs, glowing due to residual heat), and the second is a star that is slightly lighter and cooler than the Sun.

A more massive white dwarf “sucks” hydrogen from its companion, and at some point a thermonuclear reaction is ignited in its hydrogen shell - a thermonuclear explosion of this shell occurs, and the brightness of the star increases tens of thousands of times. After days, and sometimes years, the brightness of the star decreases, but there are also repeated novae, where thermonuclear “self-explosions” can occur several times.

Japanese Koichi Itagaki discovered a “new” star in the constellation Delphinus on August 14, 2013. Previously, in the place of Nova there was a very faint star (about 17th magnitude), but during the outburst its luminosity increased by more than 25 thousand times! The star was named Nova Del 2013. It is accessible for observation even with the naked eye (near maximum brightness) near the border of three constellations - Dolphin, Chanterelle and Sagittarius. If you observe this star every night, you can track the change in the brightness of Nova Delphin.

Nova has now reached its maximum brightness (magnitude 4.5). In the coming days, the star will gradually “fading” in the sky, and by the end of the month it will return to its original brightness, i.e. will become invisible to non-professional astronomers, since novae outbursts do not last long. This star is located at a distance of about 32 thousand light years from Earth.

For comparison, below are pictures of the star taken with the Russian robotic telescope MASTER-Kislovodsk, before and during the flare:

Finding Nova Dolphin 2013 in the sky will not be difficult. The constellation Delphinus is located below and to the left of the Summer Triangle (formed by three bright stars Vega-Deneb-Altair) and is a sort of “diamond on a stick”. Just above the “dolphin’s nose” there is a dim star 29 Vul, and a little to the side there is another dim star, near which Novaya lit up. The constellation Arrow, located to the right of this Nova, also points to it.

Summer Triangle and New Delphine (observed at 23-24 hours above the southern horizon)

How to find Nova in the constellation Delphinus:

A panoramic shot of the sky around New Delfina from the balcony of a city apartment.
Equipment: Canon 500D, f=34mm, F=5.6, iso800, 15 sec.

As hydrogen falls onto the surface of the white dwarf, it accumulates until a thermonuclear reaction begins at a certain temperature and pressure. As a result, the white dwarf suddenly significantly increases its brightness, and we see how a new star has lit up in the sky, which did not seem to exist before. A “star gorged on fresh hydrogen” scatters excess matter in different directions with a powerful stream of energy released during a thermonuclear explosion. With such explosions, the stars are not destroyed, and after the flare, the flow of matter into the white dwarf resumes again, which leads to the next flare. It happens there many times until the red giant's reserves run out.

It should be remembered that Novae stars (Novae) should not be confused with Supernovae, when a star is virtually destroyed “to the ground” as a result of a colossal explosion.

The residents of the Urals are puzzled: an unexpectedly large and bright star appeared in the night sky.

As an NDNews.ru correspondent reports, a bright source of light is visible above the western horizon at about 21:00 local time. It is much larger than other stars visible with the naked eye at this time.

According to the astronomical calendar, on March 17, the long-period variable stars S Virgo and R Andromeda reached their maximum brightness (6m). In addition, without special instruments, Venus, Mars and Jupiter can be observed in the evening sky, but Mars is visible only above the southwestern horizon, Jupiter in the sky in the form of the brightest yellowish star and it rises above the southern horizon closer to midnight.

The GoSkyWatchP program for iOS recognizes the point glowing above the western horizon as Venus.

Note that for an aircraft the bright point moves too slowly: to an ordinary observer it seems that the “star” is standing still, but when photographing at a slow shutter speed, its shift to the north is noticeable; for a planet, the object moves too quickly: in 40 minutes of non-professional observations, it moved significantly to the north and down.

The photo was taken at 21:05, after 40 minutes the point completely disappeared behind the house