Experience Witnessing a New Star Explosion Illuminating the Night Sky

A visible light shines brightly in the constellation Cassiopeia, indicating where the exploding star became a nova. The explosion was so bright that it could be seen from Earth using a telescope or ordinary binoculars.

The incident was the first time observed by Yuji Nakamura on March 18, 2021. Amateurs living in Kameyama City immediately reported it to the Japan National Astronomical Observatory.

Since then, many other professional amateur astronomers and observatories have confirmed that they have witnessed the nova. Its stars are given the informal name Nova Cassiopeia 2021 and the formal V1405 Cas. This nova can be seen over the next few days in the Northern Hemisphere, with a note that the moonlight shining can obstruct our vision.

As a classic nova, Nova Cas 2021 is generated by flammable interactions in a binary system of ordinary stars and white dwarfs. White dwarfs are small stars that no longer shine. In other words, the star is dead. Most stars, including the sun, will inevitably explode into white dwarfs. This stellar remnant is about the size of Earth, but still contains the mass of the star that keeps it solid.

When a white dwarf enters an ordinary star system, its strong gravitational force can attract gaseous material from its partner star. The gas buildup around the white dwarf will trigger a fusion reaction when it reaches a certain temperature, and then cause a nova.

We’ll be looking at a white dwarf forcibly sucking the atmosphere from another star on estimated speed 1,600 kilometers per second.

It is not certain which system Nova Cas 2021 comes from, which makes it difficult for us to know how far it is from Earth. But according to astronomers’ calculations, this bright explosion coincides with a binary star system called CzeV3217, which is located 5,500 light years away. This is probably the source of the nova.

The easiest way to find a nova is to look for Cassiopeia and the star Caph under the W-shaped constellation. This star is definitely pointing towards a nova, so you just have to follow its trail away from Cassiopeia to see a white dwarf. Don’t be sad if you can’t watch it firsthand, because star explosions occur every few years. You can also check out the observation “Nova Cas 2021” on Twitter. Many stargazers shared their findings.

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