Stargazers should keep their eyes on the sky as astronomers say they can expect a “once-in-a-lifetime” sight of an astronomical explosion every night.

T Coronae Borealis, also known as “Blaze Star,” is actually a pair of stars located 3,000 light-years away. The star system is a repeating nova, with explosions visible on Earth occurring every 79 to 80 years, according to NASA.

The last recorded outburst from the star T Coronae Borealis, which consists of a hot red giant and a cool white dwarf, occurred in 1946, according to the space agency, which predicts it will do so again before September 2024.

According to NASA, the star system is located in the Northern Corona, a horseshoe-shaped arc of stars west of the constellation Hercules. It can be seen between the bright stars Vega and Arcturus.

When the explosion comes into view from Earth, “it will be one of the brightest stars in the sky,” Bradley Schaefer, a professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University, told ABC News, encouraging the public to get outside and watch the explosion as soon as it comes into view.

According to Schaefer, the exact date and time of the explosion are “unknown,” but an analysis of the historical behavior of the star system and the current “pre-eruption brightness dip” indicate that an explosion is inevitable.

According to the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), which announced in March 2023 that T Coronae Borealis had faded, pre-eruption dimming is a sudden drop in brightness that some celestial objects experience about a year before an explosion.

T Coronae Borealis, which normally has a magnitude of +10 and is “too faint to be seen with the naked eye” according to NASA, will increase to a magnitude of +2 during the explosion.

Schaefer has been studying T Coronae Borealis for decades and says the chance to see the explosion from Earth with the naked eye would be “amazing.”

“It’s a way of showing humility in the face of the gigantic forces that, fortunately, are happening very far away, above our heads,” he said, comparing the force of the explosion to a hydrogen bomb.

“It’s actually a thermonuclear bomb like the one in the movie ‘Oppenheimer,’” Schaefer said.

The difference between a nova and a supernova, according to NASA, is that in a repeating nova, the dwarf star remains intact during the explosion. A supernova, on the other hand, occurs when a dying star is destroyed in one final eruption.

“There are a few repeating novae with very short cycles, but we don’t typically see a repeating outburst very often in human lifetimes, and rarely one that occurs so close to our own system,” said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, assistant scientist specializing in nova events at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in a June press release.

T Coronae Borealis is one of only 10 repeating novae in the Milky Way that eruptions occur every century, according to NASA data.

“It’s incredibly exciting to have this front-row seat,” Hounsell added.

The agency says the star system will appear similarly bright to Polaris during the event, and could shine just as brightly for days or weeks after its first appearance.

“Normally, nova events are so faint and distant that it’s hard to tell exactly where the energy of the burst is concentrated,” said Dr. Elizabeth Hays, head of NASA Goddard’s Astroarticle Physics Laboratory, in a press release. “This one will be really close, with lots of eyes watching it, looking at different wavelengths, and hopefully providing us with data that will allow us to start to unravel the structure and the specific processes involved. We can’t wait to get a full picture of what’s going on.”

The exact date and time of the astronomical explosion are not known, but Hounsell says that when it does happen, the once-in-a-lifetime event is sure to inspire generations of skygazers.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create many new astronomers, giving young people a space event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions and collect their own data,” Dr Hounsell said in a statement, adding: “It will fuel the next generation of scientists.”