Astronomers warn of a catastrophic supernova explosion that could be observed from Earth

Astronomers have been studying the binary star V Sagittae (V Sge), located about 10,000 light-years from Earth, and have discovered signs of its unstable future. The system consists of a main-sequence star with a mass of about 3.3 solar masses and an accretor star, which is currently classified as a **Wolf-Rayet**. This star intensively pulls matter away from its companion, making the system extremely bright and a harbinger of catastrophic events.

A new study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society has shown that there is a circumbinary ring of gas around V Sge. It was detected with the X-Shooter spectrograph at ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The radiation from this ring helps to explain the abnormally high brightness of the system, because the accretor does not have time to absorb the entire flux of matter.

According to scientists, the ring is formed from matter that goes beyond the gravitational «sphere of influence» of the white star. Modeling shows that the gas forms a ring at a distance of 2−4 separate orbits from the center of the system. This discovery allows us to understand why V Sge exhibits such variability and unpredictable behavior.

The researchers predict that in the coming years, a new star may erupt on the surface of the accretor, making the star visible to the naked eye from Earth. However, this is only the beginning of the final stage. In the future, the stars may collide with each other, leading to a supernova explosion that will be visible even during the day.

«The speed with which this system is moving towards its inevitable end is an alarming signal of its imminent explosion,» explained lead author Passi Hakala of the Finnish Center for Astronomy. Study co-author Dr. Rodriguez-Gil of the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics added that the upcoming supernova will be an event that humanity will be able to observe directly from Earth.