STEREO Captures a Nova Eruption (May 4, 2012)
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Something rarely seen: the Nova Sagittarii 2012 seen from a wide field instrument on the STEREO-B spacecraft. The movie runs from April 20 - 24, 2012, with approximately one frame per hour. If you watch closely, you will see the bright spot appear where the arrow is pointing. A nova is a star that suddenly increases its light output tremendously and then fades away to its former obscurity in a few months or years. An outburst occurs when a white dwarf in a binary system erupts in an enormous thermonuclear explosion. A nova is not the same as a Supernova, the collapse and explosion of a massive star whose core has finally fused its last "breath". This is only the second time STEREO has seen this kind of event. The Sun is to the left of the frame and Earth is many millions of miles to the right.
Credit: NASA STEREO/NRL's SECCHI HI-1
SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.
If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send your inquiry to steele.hill@gsfc.nasa.gov.
