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- Tuesday, October 27, 2015
- 3:45 PM–4:45 PM
- Science Building 110
Prediction of a Luminous Red Nova by Professor Larry Molnar
A nova is a stellar explosion in which a star’s brightness increases by 10,000 times or more. The origin of novae has been an astronomical puzzle since the time of Tycho Brahe. Although much progress has been made in understanding the range of causes that can lead to a nova, a significant limitation on their study has been not knowing in advance when one will occur, and hence not being able to study the “before” state for comparison with the “after.” We make the case for predicting the star KIC 9832227 will explode by 2020, and discuss two tests of this hypothesis we made this year.
