Weird But True

‘Once-in-a-lifetime’ interstellar explosion will be visible from Earth this summer: NASA

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Published June 19, 2024, 12:05 p.m. ET

A star is dead?

Keep your eyes on the skies, stargazers: NASA has predicted that the much-anticipated “once-in-a-life-time” star explosion — or nova — will be visible to the naked eye sometime this summer, per a recent press release.

“It’s incredibly exciting to have this front-row seat,” said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Dubbed T Coronae Borealis or the “Blaze Star,” the celestial event is located 3,000 light years away and is comprised of a white dwarf, an “Earth-sized” remnant of a dead star. The starburst’s mass, meanwhile, is similar to that of the Sun.

An animation of a nova.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data,” said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, a nova specialist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA/Conceptual Image Lab/Goddard Space Flight Center

Also in the mix is an “ancient red giant slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the relentless gravitational pull of its hungry neighbor,” NASA described.

When enough hydrogen from the red giant accumulates on the surface of the white dwarf, it triggers a massive thermonuclear explosion that blasts the amassed material into space in a blinding flash. The intergalactic phenomenon is not to be confused with a supernova, a similarly cosmic combustion that destroys some dying stars — rather than keeping them intact like the nova — and is often billions of times brighter than a nova.

In the case of the Blaze Star, that event appears to reoccur, on average, every 80 years, and can repeat itself for hundreds of thousands of years.

This event is particularly significant given its relative proximity to Earth. “There are a few recurrent novae with very short cycles, but typically, we don’t often see a repeated outburst in a human lifetime, and rarely one so relatively close to our own system,” said Hounsell.

Unfortunately, the exact date for the interstellar fireworks display is yet unknown, however, this would-be death star will reportedly be visible sometime this month. NASA estimates that the “brief” phenomenon will be visible to the naked eye for around a week.

A nova animation.
The event could be visible to us for a week. NASA/Conceptual Image Lab/Goddard Space Flight Center

Fortunately, amateur astronomers can optimize their chances of glimpsing the fleeting light show by following several tips.

First, they should initially look toward the Northern Crown, a parabola-shaped constellation situated west of the Hercules constellation, Fox News reports.

They can then trace a straight line from the two brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere — Arcturus and Vega — which will lead them to the Hercules constellation and the Corona Borealis, where the Blaze of glory will be most visible. It will look like a new star has appeared in the sky.

Unfortunately, “recurrent novae are unpredictable,” according to NASA astrophysicist Koji Mukai, adding that just when scientists think they’ve nailed down its pattern, it can “deviate from it completely.”

“We’ll see how T CrB (scientific name for ‘Blaze Star’) behaves,” he added.

Either way, Hounsell believes that the trail-blaze-ing event will “fuel the next generation of scientists.”

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data,” she declared.