In five years,Watch Aunt's Temptation (2018) people looking up at the night sky might see something very special.
If one prediction is correct, in 2022 (give or take a year), two stars merging and exploding 1,800 light-years from Earth will become an incredibly bright light in the constellation Cygnus, rivaling the brightness of some of the most luminous stars in the sky.
SEE ALSO: The most luminous distant galaxy ever found shelters universe's first stars"It’s a one-in-a-million chance that you can predict an explosion," astronomer Larry Molnar, one of the scientists behind the prediction, said in a statement.
"It’s never been done before."
Molnar and his team have been monitoring the KIC 9832227 star system since 2013.
Through the course of their observations, he and his colleagues were able to determine that KIC 9832227 is actually a binary -- two stars orbiting one another -- and not just a single pulsing star in the night sky.
Molnar's research assistant Daniel Van Noord at the time figured out that the star system was a "contact binary" -- meaning that the two stars that make up the system are actually enveloped by the same atmosphere.
Because these stars seem to be spiraling in toward one another, Molnar predicts that they will merge in a stellar explosion known as a "red nova."
Molnar is basing his theory, in part, on observations of another red nova -- known as V1309 Scorpii -- which exploded in 2008. That star system was also a contact binary with the stars spiraling in toward each other.
"Bottom line is we really think our merging star hypothesis should be taken seriously right now and we should be using the next few years to study this intensely so that if it does blow up we will know what led to that explosion," said Molnar.
Predicting this kind of stellar explosion isn't an exact science, and it's still unclear whether the KIC 9832227 system is going to explode as a red nova along the timescale Molnar is suggesting.
"Perhaps the greatest uncertainty with the approach is that it has never been tested before," astronomer Dan Milisavljevic, who is not associated with the team that made the prediction, told Mashable via email.
"Molnar is using a single example to make a prediction about what may be a totally different type of system. There is no guarantee that KIC 9832227 will yield the same fireworks that V1309 Sco [Scorpii] did."
That said, according to Milisavljevic, this prediction presents an amazing opportunity for any interested observer to put to the test.
"The best science comes from theories that make predictions that can be tested, and it doesn't get any better than this," Milisavljevic, who works at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, added.
In reality, the star explosion predicted for the 2020s has already occurred. Because the stars in the contact binary are 1,800 light-years from Earth, news of their explosion will take at least 1,800 years to reach our little planet. But we can wait a little longer to find out.
"Billions of people can potentially look up towards the constellation Cygnus in 2022 and verify whether or not Molnar's gutsy prediction is correct," Milisavljevic said. "The universe will still be around then -- hopefully we will be too!"
Previous：The Garbage Man
Next：Human Inhuman
Throne of Games
Normal, polite President Obama asks hecklers not curse in front of kids
From Roku to mesh WiFi, the 4 best ways to upgrade your parents' entertainment setup
Elizabeth Warren's phone chargers tweet somehow created arguments
Best power station deal: Save $170 on Anker 535 Portable Power Station
'Wordle' today: Get the answer, hints for July 4
The Google walkout in Los Angeles was private and restrained
This election night Photoshop battle imagines wild political agendas
Emboldened Fight for Health Care as a Right
Ariana Grande finally answers the question we've all been asking about her ponytail
Repair Work
Google may have shared data with sanctioned Russian ad company, report finds
It's official: MacBook Air with M2 chip will be available to order on Friday
12 cool classes to take on Khan Academy for free
Spielberg’s Children
Microsoft warns of the potential threat of toll fraud malware on Android devices
'Wordle' today: Here's the answer, hints for July 10
Stephen King is really going after Ted Cruz on Twitter
No Left Turns
Twitter tests co
'Super Mario 3D AllNetflix's 'Get Organized' has viewers flocking to The Container StoreBusiness witches of Instagram: How sorcery found a commercial home on social mediaShazam is coming to iPhone's control panel soonThe royal family just released three photographs from Princess Diana's personal albumBird's Air eRuth Bader Ginsburg's best pop culture momentsLAPD used facial recognition software tied to wrongful arrestsAn artist is turning stretch marks into powerful works of artTrump's flawless sketch of the NYC skyline is now set for auctionThere's no choice but to turn your grief into a fight for Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legacyWow, Sean Spicer's breakup playlist sure tells us a lotSean Spicer apparently stole a miniRamy Youssef's Emmy loss tweet deserves its own award'Super Mario 3D AllBlue Ivy proves she's got her mother's dance moves in a video too precious for this worldNorth Korea will soon be off limits to U.S. travelersxHamster's new 'night mode' will make falling asleep to porn easier than everFeds: Amazon staffers took bribes to prop up sketchy merchants, productsHow to help protect Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat until the election 50 percent of Facebook users could be fake, report claims Netflix's 'Conversations with a Killer: Ted Bundy Tapes': Review AirPods 2 could have hands Bradley Cooper joins Lady Gaga to perform 'Shallow' in Las Vegas Facebook is shutting down Moments Amazon stops selling Echo Wall Clocks Listen to Hillary Clinton discuss basement Barack Obama asks Colin Kaepernick to consider 'pain' he's causing military families Trump's possible 18 Another Miss Universe contestant recalls being body James Corden silenced Kim Kardashian West haters with one tweet I don't like horror. Unless it's in a video game. With 3 million users, Patreon has gone mainstream Apple changes its mind, says it'll pay photo contest winners after all Everything coming to Hulu in February 2019 Nokia returns to U.S. with cheap Android phones on Verizon and Cricket Electrify America charging network unplugs most fast charging stations Trump unleashes tweetstorm on former Miss Universe Alicia Machado Apple dismisses 200 employees from its Project Titan group Bill Clinton had the nerve to keep his buddy Barack Obama waiting
1.0551s , 10130.5625 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Watch Aunt's Temptation (2018)】,Unobstructed Information Network