'Zombie star' could be resurrected on Halloween for first time in 80 years - how to see it

Astronomers have said that night could see the resurrection of a ‘zombie star’

A star called T Coronae Borealis is set to return from the grave in a magnificent explosion the likes of which has not been seen for 80 years, according to experts.

T Coronae Borealis, also known as the 'Blaze Star,' is part of a binary star system - two stars which are orbiting each other. The Blaze Star is gravitationally tied to a red giant, a star at the end of its life, meanwhile the Blaze Star itself is a white dwarf, essentially a dead star itself.

The gravitational pull of the Blaze Star tears gas away from the red giant, like a vampire feeding on its victim. After many decades of feasting on its neighbour, the Blaze Star eventually has enough material around that the pressure and heat builds up to trigger a massive thermonuclear explosion called a recurrent nova.

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About once every eight decades this recurrent nova is triggered and the binary star system suddenly becomes extremely bright, coming back to life and for a short while rivalling the stars that form the constellations, a NASA expert said.

It is hard to say exactly when the thermonuclear explosion will take place however, but experts have said it's coming soon, and there's a chance it could happen tonight - just in time for Halloween.

Once the ‘zombie star’ has come back to life it will be visible in the sky for about a week NASA experts say. If you want to see it for yourself, start by pinpointing the two brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere: Arcturus and Vega.

Draw a line between them, this line crosses Hercules and the Corona Borealis. The Corona Borealis is to the right of Hercules and is roughly half way between Vega and Arcturus. The Blaze Star should be near the second star on the crown of the Corona Borealis.

The Blaze Star was discovered in 1217 by a German priest named Burchard of Ursperg who reported seeing “a faint star that for a time shone with great light”. It most recent nova event was in 1946, NASA said.

Astronomers are looking forward to the chance to learn about what happens when stellar material is blasted from the white dwarf. “This is where that material in our own solar system -- in our planet, in the oceans, in our bones, in our blood -- those materials come from stellar explosions,” NASA astrophysicist Padi Boyd told.