‘Once-in-a-lifetime’ cosmic explosion is likely this summer, NASA says

This summer offers a rare chance to witness a spectacular event in the night sky — a burst of light, or nova, from a dead star is expected to be visible to people on Earth.

Scientists are calling it a “once-in-a-lifetime event.”

A nova occurs when a white dwarf — a star at the end of its life — suddenly brightens. Unlike a supernova, where a star explodes, a nova happens when a white dwarf ejects material it has collected from a nearby younger star.

“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,” Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who specializes in nova events, said in a statement. “It’ll fuel the next generation of scientists.”

According to NASA, this extraordinary event will likely take place between now and September in the Corona Borealis constellation, also known as the Northern Crown. The nova will be so bright that it can be seen without a telescope.

In this case, the white dwarf is part of a binary star system with a red giant, known as T Coronae Borealis, or the “Blaze Star.”

Located about 3,000 light-years from Earth, these two stars interact in a dramatic way. The red giant sheds hydrogen, which the white dwarf pulls into its orbit. Over decades, this hydrogen builds up on the white dwarf until it triggers a thermonuclear explosion.

This explosion will release a bright flash, similar in appearance to a nuclear bomb, that will be visible from Earth for about a week. After the flash fades, the white dwarf and red giant will remain intact, continuing their cosmic dance.

Interestingly, the Blaze Star goes through this cycle roughly every 80 years. Each time, the white dwarf accumulates enough hydrogen to ignite another nova, making this summer’s event a rare but repeated occurrence in the grand scheme of the universe.