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The long-awaited Blaze Star could erupt as a visible nova on March 27, 2025, lighting up the night sky in a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic show. ============================================================================== For the first time in nearly a century, Earth’s night sky may soon be lit up by one of nature’s rarest celestial events: a nova visible to the unaided eye. At the heart of this cosmic countdown is the Blaze Star, or T Coronae Borealis—a binary star system nestled within the elegant arc of the Northern Crown. After decades of quiet buildup, astronomers believe it could erupt any night now. If it does, stargazers around...

T Coronae Borealis is a binary star system composed of a red giant and a companion white dwarf located in the constellation of Corona Borealis. Nicknamed the “Blaze Star,” it is a recurrent nova with a period of approximately 80 years. Very soon, it is expected to increase rapidly in brightness and astronomers worldwide are training their gaze to catch a glimpse of the expected nova event.

Artist’s depiction of the expected nova. Gif: NASA Visualization Studio ===================================================================================== T Coronae Borealis, a binary star system located 3,000 light-years from Earth, is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. And if the recurring nova follows its usual pattern, we can expect to see a new, albeit temporary, star appearing in our night sky any day now. The moderator of a citizen scientist group I belong to recently emphasized, “T CrB remains our highest priority target every night.” His urgency is understandable; our “Cosmic Cataclysms” group needs to be on the lookout for the expected nova, gathering data before,...

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...

The celestial wonders of April's solar eclipse and the mesmerizing dance of last weekend's aurora borealis captivated millions, yet the cosmos has an even more elusive spectacle in store. Before the year's end, the night sky will unveil an astronomical phenomenon so extraordinary that it eclipses the rarity of both these events combined. A blazingly bright event known as a nova, a light show that happens approximately once every 80 years, is expected to be visible in the coming months. "This could be a once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity," NASA said. An animation showing a nova of a white dwarf that is...

In the coming months, the world is set to witness an extraordinary celestial event as a massive explosion in the T Coronae Borealis star system is poised to create a “new star” in the night sky. This rare astronomical event, expected to occur between now and September 2024, is not the birth of a star but rather an extraordinary nova outburst from T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), situated 3,000 light-years away in the constellation of Corona Borealis. NASA described the anticipated nova outburst as a “once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity” as T Coronae Borealis is predicted to become as bright as the...