'Zombie Star' could light up the sky for the first time in 80 years, NASA says

TOLEDO, Ohio. (WTVG/Gray News) – A “zombie star” is expected to return from the dead and light up the night sky in the coming months. But. Scientists don’t know exactly when it will happen.

Also known as T Coronae Borealis ‘Flame Star’ It is expected to explode at any moment.

This will create a burst of light that will illuminate a dead binary star system for the first time in 80 years. NASA.

In 1946, astronomers watched as a new star suddenly appeared in the night sky, only to fade out a few days later.

NASA’s Dr. “Usually when explosions occur in the sky, we don’t know when they’re going to happen,” Elizabeth Hays said. “We have a clue about this because we saw the light coming from it about 80 years ago.”

They are called zombie stars because the stars themselves have reached the end of their life cycles, but in binary systems they are powered by a companion star.

When this happens, the star will suddenly appear in a part of the sky that we cannot normally see.

It will be in about the same part of the western sky where we saw the comet a few weeks ago, and will be as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper.

But it hasn’t happened yet.

“We thought this could happen as early as April this year. Or it could be as late as a few years in the future. So it’s kind of exciting, we can build on that expectation,” said Dr. Hays. “We don’t know how fast this material is accumulating, and we don’t know exactly when it will reach the magic point that sets it off.”

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