
Stars may collide in a “red nova” in 2022 - aaronbrethorst
http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/1/6/14184094/scientists-predict-stars-colliding
======
jcrites
Fascinating. It will be wondrous to see if it occurs.

It also reminds me of a premise in one of my favorite science fiction novels,
Diaspora by Greg Egan. In the story, the characters are monitoring the orbit
of a binary star system. The orbit is decaying and a collision is expected at
some point. However, soon the characters realize that the orbit is decaying
far faster than expected. Extrapolating, and discovering new properties of
stellar physics, the characters realize that the stars are mysteriously losing
angular momentum, which will lead to them spiraling downward into a prompt
collision that will produce supernova-scale energies. The binary star is in
Earth's neighborhood, so this will put all life on the planet at risk. It will
be brighter than the sun in daylight.

There's a great deal more to the plot than that (I don't want to spoil it) --
that's just the event that kicks things off. It's a great book and I'd highly
encourage all sci-fi fans to read it. Hopefully nothing like this happens in
real life, and we are confident and correct about the amount of energy that
will be released :-)

While thinking about these topics, it is difficult not to ponder the frailty
of life, and the astonishing vastness and expanse of the cosmos. How easy it
would be for a star to snuff out all life on a world.

~~~
perseusprime11
Can anyone recommend a good telescope that wont break my bank? I would love to
get into watching celestial events. Any recommendations?

~~~
MPSimmons
There are tons of good advice threads on the internet for this, because it's
actually a really hard decision.

I looked into it a year ago or so, and pretty much universally, the advice
was, "start with really good binoculars, because even relatively expensive
beginner telescopes aren't all that much better, and it's more important to
understand what you're looking at than to see it well".

Then, by the time you know whether or not you're going to be "into it", you'll
know if you want to spend a few grand on a Dobsonian (which isn't necessarily
the best answer, but is a good example).

~~~
hengheng
A bit of meta discussion that usually isn't mentioned in those advice threads:

There's a big divide between visual telescopes that you can use to see things
'live' with your naked eye, and observing telescopes that are mainly used for
photography.

The visual ones are more _fun_ , used e.g. for the Messier rally where you try
to spot all Messier objects in one night. Let's say it'll be a 12" f/4 to f/10
mirror, giving you suboptimal magnification but nice and bright images. Easy
handholdability, difficult to attach a camera, imprecise tracking if any at
all. Telescope usually fits in your trunk and is made to be assembled each
night.

The telescopes that are used for photography are more akin to classical
observatories. Guiding motors are now mandatory, usually you'll have a
stationary place (concrete foundation and all) to have your scope perfectly
aligned. You'll use it almost exclusively computer-operated, timing the images
across different color channels and working only remotely. This way it is
actually possible to do research even as an amateur ... but also to capture
deep sky objects like nebulae in their full color detail.

There are hybrids, but those are quite niche, and usually not best bang-for-
buck. Personally I'm considering to get myself a tele lens or two, and a cheap
outdated digital camera body along with it. That way I'll only need a tracking
mount, and I'll have enough to dip my feet into the water.

------
fsiefken
As Halley's comet was regarded as an omen for the defeat of the Saxon king
Harald and the 1006 bright supernova in Scorpio was regarded as a bad omen and
was accompanied with wars and famine in both Europe and Arabia and the 1997
Hale-Bopp comet resulted in the Heaven's Gate suicides, I wonder how
astrologers or all kinds of semi-religious groups would regards this upcoming
spectacle. Tycho Brahe predicted succesfully that the 1572 supernova would
herald the decline of the Roman Catholic Church. What will happen in 2022, a
New World Order... or another day of the Triffids?

[http://www.astro.com/astrology/aa_article141030_e.htm](http://www.astro.com/astrology/aa_article141030_e.htm)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_in_astrology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_in_astrology)

~~~
Cpoll
You said it yourself though; we've gone from "bad omen blamed for catastrophic
event" to "a handful of cult members committed suicide".

With that extrapolation, I can't imagine this will be the catalyst for much.

------
kordless
Here's the binary they are discussing:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_9832227](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_9832227)

Here's Tabby's star:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_8462852](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_8462852)

I'm not sure how to do the calculations on distance between the two, but I'd
estimate this binary is well under 1,000 light years from Tabby's star given
the constellation, RA, declination and distance are all close.

Edit: Added a zero as I'm not sure of the error margines on distance
measurements.

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IgorPartola
Or had collided in the year 222 :)

~~~
cyberferret
This is the "time travel" aspect of astronomy that I find extremely
fascinating.

I was just talking to my young sons the other day as we were watching the
sunset that we are seeing something that happened 8 minutes ago. Cool to see
them trying to get their young brains around this concept...

~~~
daveguy
The sunset you were seeing didn't happen 8 minutes ago. Sunsets are an
interaction of the sun with your perspective position on earth and line of
sight. The sunset was happening right then -- the light that was involved in
the sunset had been emitted from the sun 8 minutes ago. The last blip of the
light you saw disappear over the horizon was a view of a corner of the sun
from 8 minutes ago, but the sunset was happening essentially at that moment.
</pedantic>

~~~
troels
You're missing an opening tag.

~~~
Nuzzerino
Its similar to this, where typically no opening tag is provided.
[https://www.google.com/amp/s/madfileformatscience.garymcgath...](https://www.google.com/amp/s/madfileformatscience.garymcgath.com/2011/12/07/sarcasm-
tag/amp/?client=ms-android-verizon)

------
triclops200
Much better article with more details on the actual system and some more
background: [http://www.businessinsider.com/red-nova-stellar-merger-
predi...](http://www.businessinsider.com/red-nova-stellar-merger-prediction-
sky-2017-1)

~~~
DrScump
That one has a cool time-lapse of V838 Monocerotis' expansion nebula.

------
soheil
Reminds of WR 104 [1] binary star system. When the two stars collide in the
next 100 years there is a chance earth could be in the path of its gamma-ray
bursts that can potentially end life on earth. The cool thing about it is that
we won't know when it happens (already has happened because of limit of speed
of light) until the gamma rays have reached earth which means there will be
just a flash of light and then it's all over and it could happen anytime. Talk
about existential thread to life. However, there isn't a very high likelihood
of it happening though.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WR_104](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WR_104)

~~~
rokosbasilisk
Wow scary. Is there any way to survive it ?

Its also kinda of sad, but for a second I felt kinda happy reading this,
knowing at least I wouldnt be in student debt

~~~
jawilson2
This is so depressing. I had the exact same thought. "I'll miss my kids, but
at least no more Sallie Mae, so I've got that going for me."

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planteen
Does anyone know of a link to the conference paper about this?

~~~
dark_star
I think this is the conference paper:
[http://www.calvin.edu/academic/phys/observatory/MergingStar/...](http://www.calvin.edu/academic/phys/observatory/MergingStar/MolnarEtAl2017.pdf)

(Linked to from here: [http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/two-stars-are-about-smash-
into-each...](http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/two-stars-are-about-smash-into-each-
other-explosion-will-be-visible-naked-eye-1599749))

The star system in question is KIC 9832227, about 1800 light years away from
us:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_9832227](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIC_9832227)

~~~
planteen
Awesome, thanks so much!

------
chillly
I wonder if the event will be big enough to show up in gravity waves. There
will be three detectors at least 'listening'.

~~~
daveguy
Is that a regular event they listen for? I thought it was black holes
colliding and a couple of average size stars wouldn't be significant enough to
cause a blip.

It would be awesome if they could tie a gravity wave event with an event
visible to the naked eye.

~~~
detritus
Would the increased proximity of these two stars make up for this? I'm under
the impression that the gravity wave detections so far have been colliding
black holes billions of light years away - if these two are less than two
thousand, might they be detectable (with current tech)?

------
life2hack
If it happens as it is predicted, it will be a real treat for us.

~~~
tonylemesmer
I read that as "threat" then I re-read it and calmed down.

~~~
life2hack
or it can be a threat to.

