The night sky is so constant and unchanging that generations of navigators have set their course by the fixed arrangement of the stars.
But soon stargazers will get the truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch as a new star is born in the heavens.
The ‘blaze star’ T Coronae Borealis is set to flare into life any day now, going from invisible to as bright as the North Star overnight in a spectacular nova.
Once the nova appears it will be visible to the naked eye for a couple of days before disappearing for another 80 years.
Dr Rebekah Hounsell, a NASA expert on nova, says: ‘There are a few recurrent novae with very short cycles, but typically, we don’t often see a repeated outburst in a human lifetime, and rarely one so relatively close to our own system.’
Dr Hounel adds that this is ‘a once-in-a-lifetime- event’ to get front-row seats to a truly special cosmic event.
To spot this unique phenomenon, all you need to do is to head out on a dark, clear night and look to the North East.
The blaze star will appear in a faint constellation called the Northern Crown, or Corona Borealis, between the constellations of Boötes and Hercules.
But if this is a bit tricky to spot, there is a method to help narrow down your search using some brighter stars in the sky.
First, look for the Big Dipper, sometimes called the Saucepan or Plough, and follow the curve of the ‘handle’ till you find a bright reddish star above the eastern horizon.
Stargazers will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the birth of a new star as the ‘Blaze Star’ T Coronae Borealis flares into life (artist’s impression)
From that star, which is called Arcturus, look to the North East on the same level and you should spot another bright star called Vega.
Halfway between these two, you will be able to find a faint curl of seven stars – this is the Northern Crown where the Blaze Star will appear.
Of course, it will be a lot easier to find the star constellation once the blaze star has appeared as it should be one of the brightest in the sky.
For the best viewing conditions make sure to get far away from any sources of light that could ruin your view.
That might mean getting away from city lights where possible and avoiding using your torch while your eyes adjust to the darkness.
To find the start look for the constellation of Corona Borealis which is between Hercules and Bootes in the North East
The star will be visible to the naked eye but you will be able to see more if you use a pair of binoculars or a small telescope.
There is no way of knowing exactly when the star will come to life, and even scientists are eagerly waiting for any signs of activity.
It is predicted that T Coronae Borealis should appear sometime between now and September, but that could happen any day.
Although the term ‘nova’ comes from the Latin for ‘new star’ it will actually only appear that a new star has been created.
In reality, what we will see is the moment that a very faint star 3,000 light years from Earth suddenly becomes brighter.
T Coronae Borealis is a binary system nestled in the Northern Crown constellation, which means that it consists of two stars locked in orbit around each other.
To find the star follow the handle of the big dipper (shown here from the Northern Hemisphere) and look for a reddish star named Arcturus. The blaze star should appear halfway between this star and another bright star to the North East called Vega
One of those stars is a vast but cool red giant, while the other is a white dwarf – a hot, dense remnant of a dead star about the size of the Earth but containing the same mass as our Sun.
As these stars orbit, the white dwarf is slowly devouring its neighbour, stripping the hydrogen from its atmosphere.
As this hydrogen piles up around the white dwarf it builds up massive pressure and heat.
When enough matter falls into the star at once, it triggers an enormous thermonuclear explosion so bright we can see it from Earth, blasting away the built-up material.
But, unlike a supernova which happens as a star dies, the white dwarf is left intact so that the process can begin again.
T Coronae Borealis is a binary system, meaning that is actually made up of two stars locked in orbit with one another (artist’s impression)
Because this build-up takes about 80 years, T Coronae Borealis flares on a regular cycle, making it a recurrent nova.
The first time the star was spotted was more than 800 years ago in 1217 when a man named Burchard, abbot of Ursberg, Germany, spotted ‘a faint star that for a time shone with great light.’
This is also how scientists know that the star is set to blaze again since it is following the same pattern as it did in 1866 and 1947.
In those cases, the star first grew brighter before suddenly fading away in anticipation of the big bang.
Scientists have been watching T Coronae Borealis grow brighter again since 2015 until it suddenly dimmed in March last year.
When it finally blows, it could grow up to 600 times brighter based on these previous flares.
As this artist’s impression illustrates, the white dwarf pulls matter away from its red giant neighbour. This builds up until it triggers a nuclear explosion so bright we can see it from Earth
Since T Coronae Borealis is quite close to Earth and flares regularly, it is also a great chance for scientists to learn more about novae.
The nova will be watched carefully by scientists all around the world using the James Webb Space Telescope, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and many others.
Dr Elizabeth Hays, chief of the particle physics laboratory at NASA Goddard, says this means the help of amateur stargazers will be vital to catch the first moments of the explosion.
‘We’ll observe the nova event at its peak and through its decline, as the visible energy of the outburst fades.
‘But it’s equally critical to obtain data during the early rise to eruption – so the data collected by those avid citizen scientists on the lookout now for the nova will contribute dramatically to our findings.’
