Even though the partial solar eclipse earlier this week is now in the celestial rear-view mirror, Winkler area amateur astronomer Kenton Dyck says there are still many things to look forward to this year. One of them is the potentially spectacular recurring nova T Coronae Borealis expected to occur some time before September this year. It happens about once every 80 years.
"It's a binary star system, so it's a solar system that has two Suns," he explained. "One of the stars has already exhausted its fuel supply and it's essentially dead. The star next to it is getting larger, and what's happening is the dead star is sucking the atmosphere, or the gases, away from this other star. Eventually it will suck enough matter away the dead star will have enough mass and heat to initiate fusion. It'll essentially light up again, and for a very short amount of time, it will basically go nova."
The T Coronae Borealis is located about 3,000 light years from Earth. According to NASA, when the nova occurs, it will more than likely be visible to the naked eye in the night sky.
Using his high end amateur telescope, Kenton Dyck views the partial solar eclipse Monday afternoonDyck is also excited for the potential to catch a glimpse of the comet 12P Pons-Brooks.
"If we had a complete eclipse (on Monday afternoon), we would actually be able to see it right next to the sun," he said. "It is a comet that is slinging around the Sun right now. If it survives, it will come out the other side, and we should be able to see it again. If we're really lucky, it'll have a beautiful tail that we can see."
And lastly, Dyck is looking forward to the return of Saturn to the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere.
"One of the things I'm looking forward to is Saturn," he shared. "It's actually below the horizon, now, at night, and I am very excited for the jewel of our Solar System to make its appearance, again, in a few months."
- With files from Robyn Wiebe -
Sun, May 5, 2:00 PM
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