In 1217, a German monk looked up at the southwestern sky and noticed a star suddenly transform into a “cosmic monster,” blazing for several days.
This event in 1217 was recorded by Abbott Burchard, the head of the Ursberg Monastery in medieval Germany, in his chronicles. He described it as “a wonderful sign”, a mysterious object shining brightly in the constellation Corona Borealis for many days.
An ancient illustration depicting the constellation Corona Borealis, shaped like a crown, located next to the constellation Hercules, which resembles the warrior from Greek mythology – (Photo: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)
According to Live Science, a team of scientists led by astronomer Bradley E. Schaefer from Louisiana State University has studied this ancient text and provided a similar description.
They determined that it refers to an object that has been observed by modern science during two separate astronomical events in 1866 and 1946.
It is a true cosmic monster: The “vampire star” known as T CrB, located in the constellation Corona Borealis.
Currently, it appears as a very ordinary star in the sky, but calculations indicate that in 2024, it will manifest again as a “monster,” appearing as a bright flame in the sky for several days.
This is because it is a “nova.”
A nova is an explosive event of a star characterized by a “dying” phase. The cause is that T CrB is a white dwarf – a type of “zombie star”, which is the remnant of a star similar to our Sun.
T CrB is not alone like the Sun; it has a younger companion star. As a white dwarf, it has exhibited “vampire” behavior, continuously siphoning material from its companion. Approximately every 80 years, this star becomes overly saturated and erupts in a nova event.
Calculations show that the next explosion event is expected in 2024.
Theoretically, there will come a day when T CrB, like other vampire stars, becomes so overfed that it “bursts,” completely exploding in a more violent event known as a “supernova.” That will be the day it dies completely.
Scientists believe that T CrB is also an unexplained object that has previously been suspected of being a comet in various ancient texts. They hope that this “identity verification” will improve models for tracking and predicting this special star.
