Skywatchers be prepared! A spectacular celestial event is expected to happen as astronomers predict a "once-in-a-lifetime" view of an astronomical explosion any night now.
T Coronae Borealis, commonly known as the "Blaze Star," is a pair of stars located 3,000 light-years away from Earth. This star system is a recurring nova, experiencing Earth-visible explosions every 79 to 80 years, according to NASA.
T Coronae Borealis comprises a hot red giant star and a cool white dwarf star. The last recorded outburst from T Coronae Borealis occurred in 1946. NASA forecasts that the system will erupt again before September 2024.
Located in the Northern Crown, a horseshoe-shaped constellation west of Hercules, the Blaze Star can be spotted between the bright stars Vega and Arcturus, according to NASA.
"When the explosion comes into Earth's view, it will be one of the brightest stars in the sky," said Bradley Schaefer, a physics and astronomy professor at Louisiana State University, in an interview with ABC News. Schaefer encourages the public to go outside and witness the explosion as soon as it becomes visible.
The exact timing of the explosion remains uncertain. However, the star system's historical behavior and current "pre-eruption dip" indicate that the explosion is imminent. A pre-eruption dip is a sudden decrease in brightness that some celestial objects experience about a year before erupting, as reported by the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). The AAVSO announced that T Coronae Borealis had faded in March 2023.
Normally, T Coronae Borealis is located at magnitude +10, which is too dim to see with the naked eye. However, during the explosion, its brightness will jump to magnitude +2, making it visible without the aid of telescopes.
Schaefer, who has studied T Coronae Borealis for decades, describes the chance to see the explosion from Earth with the naked eye as "magnificent."
"It's a way of humbling ourselves for the titanic forces that are happening, fortunately, very far away, above our heads," Schaefer said, likening the power of the explosion to a hydrogen bomb. "It really actually is a hydrogen-fusion bomb just like in the movie 'Oppenheimer,'" he added.
According to NASA, the difference between nova and supernova events 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.
