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My earlier question about predicted potentially observable events Has a gravitational microlensing event ever been predicted? If so, has it been observed? is limited to microlensing.

Now I have just learned in CNN's March 19, 2024 Explosive star event will create once-in-a-lifetime sight in the sky. Here’s how to see it that recurrent Nova T Coronae Borealis is expected to brighten in the next few months from roughly +11 to +2 magnitude. CNN says that NASAUniverse's tweets will issue updates if you read it, but I am social media-averse.

Are there automated (and hopefully free) systems I can subscribe to that will send me an old-fashioned email, or maybe an SMS text message when the Nova becomes visible?

Potentially related:

uhoh
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    Spaceweather.com has an alert system, mostly for solar events. But the highest plan level has "custom" alerts. You can ask them about it. – Greg Miller Mar 23 '24 at 00:02
  • @GregMiller thanks! I've added "and hopefully free" to my constraints. – uhoh Mar 23 '24 at 10:07
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    Have a look at https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/ – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz Mar 23 '24 at 12:06
  • @samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz looks interesting, I think I will. Thanks (and topanswers looks interesting too!) – uhoh Mar 23 '24 at 12:17
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    Here's a reddit thread of the same question: https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/1bkwq7f/cosmic_explosion_will_be_visible_to_the_naked_eye/ – Greg Miller Mar 23 '24 at 15:05
  • TBH, using an alert seems to spoil the fun, (the fun being to go out each night and check Corona-B for a new star) – James K Mar 24 '24 at 06:21
  • @JamesK I'm pretty sure there's weather where you live, I certainly have plenty, and it's quite overcast in the north in the winter. Upon receiving an alert, I'd check the weather and most likely take a high speed rail to the south of Taiwan which has much clearer skies. All my friends in the south live in big brightly lit cities and are clueless about stars, so I couldn't have someone do the checking for me. However, if someone is doing daily observations and plotting a light curve (like people do for comets) I wouldn't mind checking that site every day! – uhoh Mar 24 '24 at 22:57
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    I'm from the UK, It's always cloudy. . . Of course, this event is not actually spectacular on the night. All you will see is one extra star in the sky, it won't look fundamentally different from any of the others. So, if it were cloudy, I wouldn't be travelling to see it. But see the answer to the linked question . https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/57248/ AAVSO do tracking (but not alerts, as far as I can tell) – James K Mar 25 '24 at 06:00
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    @JamesK I know; my understated weather comment was tongue-in-cheek :-) I've never (knowingly) seen a nova. And while it will likely be visually indistinguishable from a star, it will be intellectually and spiritually exciting for me to see it and know what it is. And I know some graduate students who will (at least pretend, for my benefit, to) find it exciting as well. – uhoh Mar 26 '24 at 01:46

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