Astronomers Predict Huge Explosion In The Sky Sometime In 2022
The last time I remember something changing the night sky in my lifetime was the comet Hale-bopp back in 1997. I used to sit on the porch on=f my townhouse and stare at it with my Dad. I was only 12 then so I didn’t really have the most in-depth knowledge on what a comet was, but it blew my mind into read as much as I could about space. Speaking of the nighttime sky, astronomers are predicting the sky could look a little different in 2022.
Calvin College professor Larry Molnar and his students along with colleagues from Apache Point Observatory (Karen Kinemuchi) and the University of Wyoming (Henry Kobulnicky) are predicting a change to the night sky that will be visible to the naked eye. At 10:15 a.m. CST on Friday, January 6, a press briefing was held at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center (Austin 5) where Molnar shared how a prediction he made in 2015 of a binary star merging in the near future is progressing from theory to reality.
How rare is a prediction like this happening? Well…
“It’s a one-in-a-million chance that you can predict an explosion,” Molnar said of his bold prediction. “It’s never been done before.”
Molnar’s prediction is that 2 stars that orbit each other (binary star) will merge and blow up in 2022 or so. When that happens, the brightness of the explosion will increase the brightness of the stars by 10,000. This would change the history books because the bright explosion would be one of the brightest objects in the sky for a while. We’ll have to wait until 2022 to find out if this indeed happens, but I hope it does. It will make people more interested in space again.
Calvin communication arts and sciences professor Sam Smartt is producing a documentary on the discovery made by Molnar and his team. Watch the trailer for Luminous below:
(Via Calvin College)
Follow Jeff Sorensen on TWITTER
Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post, UPROXX, BGR and by just looking up his name.
Contact: jeff@socialunderground.com