‘New’ star to briefly illuminate night sky

is now one more reason to gaze at the sky, total solar eclipse aside.

The explosion of a distant “star system” will temporarily paint the night sky with its bright guts soon, offering stargazers the opportunity to witness a truly mesmerizing moment, NASA said in late February.

T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB’s “nova outburst” has the potential to be a “once-in-a-lifetime” occasion, as the celestial event only occurs once every 80 years. It “last exploded in 1946 and astronomers believe it will do so again between February and September 2024,” according to NASA.

It’s difficult to predict when T Coronae Borealis, a binary system with a white dwarf (dead stars) and red giant (aging stars), will erupt. It happens when the red giant becomes “unstable from its increasing temperature and pressure,” according to NASA. The red giant begins to shed its outer layers, which are subsequently collected by the white dwarf, placing the matter onto its surface.

“The shallow dense atmosphere of the white dwarf eventually heats enough to cause a runaway thermonuclear reaction – which produces the noThere va we see from Earth,” NASA says.

William J. Cooke, lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, told CNN that most novae (extremely bright white dwarf stars) happen unexpectedly, without warning.

“However, T Coronae Borealis is one of 10 recurring novae in the galaxy. We know from the last eruption back in 1946 that the star will get dimmer for just over a year before rapidly increasing in brightness,” Cooke said.

T Coronae Borealis, located 3,000 light-years away from Earth, is just a little too dim and far to be observed by the “unaided eye” (without a powerful telescope).

But this “nova outburst” will give stargazers the rare chance to witness a brightness akin to the North Star, also known as Polaris.

“Once its brightness peaks, it should be visible to the unaided eye for several days and just over a week with binoculars before it dims again, possibly for another 80 years,” according to NASA.

NASA recommends stargazers to “become familiar with the constellation Corona Borealis, or the Northern Crown – a small, semicircular arc near Bootes and Hercules, which is where the outburst will appear as a “new” bright star.

Updates about T Coronae Borealis can be found @NASAUniverse on X.

PROVIDED BY NASA “The shallow dense atmosphere of the white dwarf eventually heats enough to cause a runaway thermonuclear reaction – which produces the nova we see from Earth,” NASA says.