The rare cosmic event is expected to take place sometime before September 2024. When it occurs it will likely be visible to the naked eye. No expensive telescope will be needed to witness this spectacular cosmic performance, says Nasa.

While the world’s attention has been focused on the total solar eclipse that will occur later this spring, the distant Corona Borealis binary system – which contains one dead white dwarf star and one aging red giant star – has been busy gearing up for its own moment of glory: a spectacular nova explosion.

Located 3,000 light years from Earth, the Corona Borealis is home to a white dwarf star named T Coronae Borealis (or T CrB for short) that’s on the verge of what Nasa says will be a once-in-a-lifetime nova eruption. T CrB experiences oubursts only take place about once every 80 years, the last was was back in 1946. “I’m very excited. This thing is kind of like Halley’s Comet – it occurs once every 75 to 80 years – but novas don’t get the press Halley’s Comet gets,” says Nasa’s meteoroid environment program manager William J Cooke. “Comets always get more press.”

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