‘An exceedingly rare event’ — See a pair of nova explosions shining in the southern sky this week.

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Not one, but two exploding stars are currently visible to the naked eye in the southern night sky, a cosmic coincidence that’s “exceedingly rare” and may soon vanish from view entirely.

On June 12, the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN), led by the Ohio State University, detected a dramatic surge in the brightness of an otherwise unremarkable star embedded in the constellation Lupus. Subsequent observations revealed a powerful nova explosion — now designated V462 Lupi — to be the cause of the radiation outburst. The star quickly brightened from its previously dim magnitude of +22 to a peak brightness of around +5.5, rendering it visible to the naked eye.



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