New ‘Nova Star’ explosion spotted in night sky

A new star explosion, called a nova, has flared up in the night sky, and it is fairly easy to spot with binoculars — and potentially even the naked eye — by stargazers with clear weather and dark skies, Space.com reported.

Called Nova Dephinus 2013, the new nova (Latin for "new star") was discovered Wednesday (Aug. 14) by amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki of Yamagata, Japan, at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) in the constellation Delphinus, the Dolphin. Itagaki used a CCD camera attached to a 7-inchreflecting telescope. A nova is a powerful eruption from star, but is not as strong as a supernova, which is a catastrophic explosion that signals the death of a star.