Astronomy

A spectacular cosmic event is on the horizon: a rare nova explosion so bright that it will be visible to the naked eye. A red giant and a white dwarf orbiting each other in a nova similar to T Coronae Borealis. Astronomers have been closely monitoring a small constellation, eagerly awaiting the eruption of a nearby binary star system. The long wait may finally be over—recent calculations suggest the nova could explode as soon as Thursday, March 27. The Blaze Star’s Explosive Cycle T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), also known as the Blaze Star, is a binary system located 3,000 light-years from Earth. It undergoes recurring nova eruptions approximately every 79 years, and the next one is imminent. For the past decade, the Blaze Star has been exhibiting behavior eerily similar to the lead-up to it...

Welcome to our quick take on top celestial wonders to spot in the March night sky! Well we’ve certainly been spoiled for entertainment so far this year with the heavyweights of our Solar System -Earth’s planetary neighbours gathering together on the same side of the Sun to put on the first ever ‘Grand Parade’ of the planets – it would seem, primarily for our enjoyment! An amazing event that no doubt filled all able to witness it in the Northern hemisphere with awe and wonder. If you missed seeing all the big guns of the Solar System within the same skyscape last month – don’t worry as the brightest-looking planets: Mars, Venus, and Jupiter can still be spotted. Image Credit: TheSpaceway/Pixabay.com But what’s new for us to see this month? Well on the 23rd March we will be able to watch Sat...

Artist impression of the Big Bang. Image NASA/HST One of the most significant challenges to the Big Bang hypothesis that emerged recently concerns the abundance of the element lithium. Lithium abundance is a cornerstone prediction of the Big Bang theory. If the universe had once been extremely dense and hot, fusion reactions within such conditions would have produced a specific, albeit small, amount of lithium. This limited amount is due to the fact that most lithium would have been consumed in subsequent fusion reactions. According to the theory, we should find roughly five lithium atoms for every 10 billion hydrogen atoms — a tiny fraction, but still detectable. However, for decades, astronomers have known that this prediction presents a substantial problem. Through spectroscopic analys...