An incredible "once in a lifetime" event is set to take place in the coming days as the "Blaze Star" is set to light up the night sky.
T Coronae Borealis, also known as the Blaze Star, is a pair of stars located 3,000 light-years away.
This star system is a recurring nova, with Earth-visible explosions approximately every 79 to 80 years, according to NASA.
The last recorded outburst from T Coronae Borealis, which consists of a hot red giant star and a cool white dwarf star, was in 1946.
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NASA predicts it will erupt again before September 2024.
Located in the Northern Crown, a horseshoe-shaped curve of stars west of the Hercules constellation, T Coronae Borealis can be observed between the bright stars Vega and Arcturus, according to NASA.
When the explosion becomes visible from Earth, "it's going to be one of the brightest stars in the sky," Louisiana State University physics and astronomy professor Bradley Schaefer told ABC News.
He encouraged the public to go outside and view the explosion as soon as it appears.
The exact day and time of the explosion are "unknown," according to Schaefer.
However, the star system's historical behavior and current "pre-eruption dip" suggest the explosion is imminent.
A pre-eruption dip, a sudden decrease in brightness experienced by some celestial objects about a year before erupting, was observed in T Coronae Borealis in March 2023, reported the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO).
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Typically, T Coronae Borealis is located at magnitude +10, "far too dim to see with the unaided eye," according to NASA. During the explosion, it will jump to magnitude +2.
Schaefer, who has been studying T Coronae Borealis for decades, said the chance to see the explosion with the naked eye will be "magnificent."
"It's a way of humbling ourselves for the titanic forces that are happening, fortunately, very far away, that's happening above our heads," he said, comparing the power of the explosion to a hydrogen bomb.
"It really actually is a hydrogen-fusion bomb just like in the movie Oppenheimer," Schaefer added.
The difference between nova and supernova events, according to NASA, is that in a recurring nova, the dwarf star remains intact during the explosion.
In contrast, a supernova occurs when a dying star is destroyed in one final eruption.
"There are a few recurrent novas 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," Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist specializing in nova events at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a June press release.
T Coronae Borealis is one of just 10 recurring novas known in the Milky Way that erupt on timescales of less than a century, according to NASA.
"It's incredibly exciting to have this front-row seat," Hounsell added.
During the event, NASA says the star system will be similar in brightness to the North Star, Polaris, and may shine this bright for days or a week after first appearing.
"Typically, nova events are so faint and far away that it’s hard to clearly identify where the erupting energy is concentrated," Dr. Elizabeth Hays, chief of the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory at NASA Goddard, said in the press release.
"This one will be really close, with a lot of eyes on it, studying the various wavelengths and hopefully giving us data to start unlocking the structure and specific processes involved. We can’t wait to get the full picture of what’s going on."
Although the exact date and time of the explosion are unknown, Hounsell says the once-in-a-lifetime event is sure to inspire the next generation of skywatchers.
