Nova over Thailand
Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN)
Explanation: A nova in Sagittarius is bright enough to see with binoculars. Detected last month, the
stellar explosion even approached the limit of naked-eye visibility last week. A classical
nova results from a
thermonuclear explosion on the surface of a
white dwarf star -- a dense star having the size of our Earth but the mass of our Sun. In the featured image, the nova was
captured last week above ancient
Wat Mahathat in
Sukhothai,
Thailand. To see
Nova Sagittarius 2016 yourself, just go out just after sunset and locate near the western horizon the constellation of the Archer (
Sagittarius), popularly identified with an
iconic teapot. Also visible near the
nova is the very bright planet Venus. Don’t delay, though, because not only is the
nova fading, but that part of the sky is setting continually closer to sunset.
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