Article: Stellar mystery solved. (Nova Cygni's magnetic white dwarf)

Stellar mystery solved "Most amateur astronomers observing in the summer of 1975 remember it well," says Gary Schmidt of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory. The reason: That August Nova Cygni 1975 burst into view, to become history's most famous--and for 13 years, most mysterious--nova, or "new star". It exploded some 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, and was so bright that it could be seen even from light-flooded cities like Los Angeles. "Brighter than virtually any nova ever seen," says Schmidt, "in some ways it even rivaled the 1987 supernova explosion."

(Astronomers distinguish between the stellar explosions, called novae and ...

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