KIC 9832227 - binary collision ~2022

[M106]

no idea what will actually be visible for amateurs, but cool non the less

 

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/colliding-stars-will-light-night-sky-2022?utm_source=sciencemagazine&utm_medium=facebook-text&utm_campaign=lightthenight-10268

[rockystar]

interesting, thanks for sharing. I'll keep an eye on that one.

[furrysocks2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_9832227

Quote

KIC 9832227 is a contact binary star system in the constellation of Cygnus, located about 1800 light-years away. It is also identified as an eclipsing binary with a periodicity of almost 11 hours. A merger, producing a luminous red nova, is predicted to be visible to the naked eye, reaching magnitude 2, for a few weeks between September 2021 and September 2022.

 

I heard about this from a friend a few days ago - exciting event, somewhere about here I think:

[Merlin]

I can almost hear the splat.

[niallk]

Won't it really be something if we can indeed spot the aftermath as predicted?

Amazing stuff

[billyharris72]

I've been thinking about trying to use my dslr to capture some light curves for this one. The period is so short you could grab two in a night. They only vary by about 0.2 magnitudes it so, but a dslr ought to capture that okay (CCD would be better though).

[timwetherell]

I'm glad you posted this. yes we should sketch/photograph this star now so we can compare it later. It's rare that one gets to see dramatic changes in the sky in human lifetimes