Newly discovered nova: See it live, online

A nova was discovered this week, and you can get a closer look at it live, right here.

Slooh.com will be pointing its Canary Island-based telescope at the nova - a runaway nuclear explosion occuring on a star - with audio commentary provided by astronomer Bob Berman.

If you want to learn more about novae, and see one for yourself, you should definitely tune in.

“Slooh members have already imaged the nova and it looks amazing,” said Slooh President Patrick Paulucci in an email to the Los Angeles Times.

If you miss the broadcast, or you prefer to do your stargazing in person, the nova should be visible with binoculars even in our light-polluted urban skies, and possibly visible with the naked eye in a dark sky, according to Sky & Telescope.

To find it, check out the magazine’s star map and look to the northwest corner of the constellation Delphinus.

Classical novae occur when two stars get close enough to each other that hydrogen and helium gas from one of the stars gets pulled to the surface of the larger star through gravity.

If enough hydrogen accumulates on the surface of the larger star, it will trigger a runaway hydrogen fusion reaction.

What we are seeing on Earth is a star getting momentarily bigger, but not being destroyed.

The nova was discovered by amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki of Yamagata, Japan, on Aug. 14.