A star (system?) named T Coronae Borealis, also known as TCrB, is due to brighten this year, after an eighty year hiatus. TCrB is a double star system, consisting of a red giant and white dwarf. It is not normally visible to the naked eye. The extra brightness is scheduled to last for a week, but it’s not the kind that will be noticed by casual observers. The brightness estimate is given as being like Polaris, the North Star. That’s … visible but not exciting unless you are primed for it…

I’ve written before about John O’Keefe, NASA scientist, who studied the star, R Coronae Borealis in 1938, years before NASA was even thought of. O’Keefe received his degree in Astronomy, Harvard Class of ’37, and began his graduate studies there. Coronae Borealis is a constellation that looks like a crown (if you squint and imagine that someone wrenched the crown apart). R Coronae Borealis is a variable star, whose light dims and brightens because of the buildup and dispersion of carbon dust in its atmosphere. This can occur over months or years.

It turns out that there is another star in the same constellation with a variable brightness that changes about every 80 years. T Coronae Borealis is due to brighten this year, before September, according to the linked NASA article. The sudden brightening is due to material flowing from a giant red star to a white dwarf. When the white dwarf is overloaded, it explodes and temporarily brightens. https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/2024/02/27/view-nova-explosion-new-star-in-northern-crown/

Finding this constellation ahead of time so that the difference in the sky is observable, might be a good idea. The article shows more or less how to do it.

The two different types of variability are unrelated of course, and the fact that they are both part of Coronae Borealis is irrelevant but entertaining.

In other news, here is a link to a great sermon given last Sunday by the famous deacon, JM. https://ourladyofhope.net/activity/live-stream/

Okay, I can’t make that link go straight to the correct Mass. Click on it, and then click on Previous Livestream Masses. When the window opens on the left, you can choose previous Masses. Scroll down to April 7, 10:30 Mass. The Gospel begins around the 18:00 minute mark, and the Homily about two minutes later.

https://www.catholicherald.com/article/local/12-seminarians-ordained-to-transitional-diaconate/ UPDATE: Pictures from the diocesan newspaper. John is shown with the bishop in picture 4. In picture 6 you can see him being vested…