Look up! How to watch an exploding star

exploding star
Photo credit Getty Images

If you're still coming down from the high of seeing last week's total solar eclipse, or maybe you've got a huge case of FOMO because you couldn't see it, get ready for another "once-in-a-lifetime" event that's preparing to grace the skies.

A star is expected to explode sometime this summer and the spectacle will be visible to the naked eye in the northern hemisphere.

T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB, is located in a star system 3,000 light-years away from Earth, and NASA says it will likely explode as a nova -- a sudden, short-lived outburst -- sometime between now and September.

"This could be a once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity as the nova outburst only occurs about every 80 years," Lauren Perkins, who works at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, wrote in a blog post.

According to NASA, the star system is normally a magnitude +10, which is far too dim to see with the unaided eye. When the nova outburst happens, it will jump to magnitude +2 -- similar to the brightness of the North Star, 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," Perkins said.

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NASA says stargazers will see the nova in the constellation Corona Borealis, also known as the Northern Crown -- a small, semicircular arc near the constellations Bootes and Hercules.

While NASA can't predict when exactly the star will explode, it is continuously monitoring the sky and is providing updates on the outburst as it grows closer to happening.

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Featured Image Photo Credit: Getty Images