Blaze Star: How To Prepare For The Biggest Sky Event For 79 Years

[Judi Lynn]

By Jamie Carter Senior Contributor. Jamie Carter is an award-winning reporter who covers the night sky.

Mar 27, 2025, 05:00am EDT



An artist's rendering of T Coronae Borealis, also known as T CrB, a recurrent nova in the constellation Corona Borealis. It is a binary system composed of a red giant star and a white dwarf star, surrounded by an accretion disc, and has outbursts approximately every 80 years

getty

Are you ready for the “Blaze Star” to erupt? When T Coronae Borealis (T CrB) — a dim star in the constellation Coronoa Borealis — “goes nova” and becomes visible to the naked eye for a few weeks, it will be all over the media. You’ll read terrible headlines like “New star lights-up night sky” written by desk-bound reporters who know nothing about stargazing. Almost everyone on the planet will be taking a peek and mostly getting completely lost and confused.

However, if you get organized, do a little homework, and —most importantly — get outside and look up soon, you’ll be in with a chance of getting much more from a true once-in-a-lifetime celestial event. You can be among the few who can say you saw, appreciated, and understood how lucky you were to witness such a rare event.

Here’s everything you need to know to prepare for the “Blaze Star”/T Coronae Borealis/T CrB to go nova:

What Is The ‘Blaze Star’/T Coronae Borealis/T CrB?

Nicknamed the “Blaze Star,” T Coronae Borealis (T CrB) is a binary system — a star system like the solar system, but with two stars — in which one explodes every 80 years. This is not uncommon. Binary stars explode all the time — in cosmic time. Explosions could be multiple centuries apart, even more. In one average human lifetime, there is only one binary star system that does so, and that’s the “Blaze Star”/T Coronae Borealis/T CrB.

It could explode as soon as Thursday, March 27, surging in brightness from very dim and invisible to the naked eye to bright enough to see. This is what astronomers call a “nova” — a new star — that results from a rare stellar eruption.

More:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2025/03/27/blaze-star-how-to-prepare-for-the-biggest-sky-event-for-79-years/


(Blaze Star should not be confused with the 1950's burlesque individual, Tempest Storm.)

[underpants]

1. Very cool. Thanks

the Northern Hemisphere. Here’s how to find it:

Go outside at 10 p.m. tonight, wherever you are in the northern hemisphere.
Find The Big Dipper high in the northwestern sky and follow the curve of its handle, taking an “arc to Arcturus,” a bright star above due east.
Trace a line from Arcturus down to a bright star, Vega, close to the northeastern horizon.
Halfway between the two is a curve of seven stars — Corona Borealis.

[3Hotdogs]

5. If it's gonna be that bright, will we need directions to find it?

[Buddyzbuddy]

2. Great, I read that whole post only to find out it had nothing to do with Tempest Storm.

Thanks a lot, Judi Lynn. No really, thank you. I'm going to make an effort to see it if possible.
Happy star gazing.

[3Hotdogs]

4. Blaze Star..... When I was a 'ute in the 50's, promo photos of Blaze caused me to spend too many

hours in the bathro aw forget i.

[rubbersole]

6. Wilbur Mills is flailing in the Tidal Basin in the sky.

Oh wait, I'm getting my strippers/scandals/senators confused. Easy to do anymore.
Thanks, Judi Lynn. Your posts are always very interesting.

[Javaman]

3. it's cloudy for the next few days here in Austin. :( nt

[Judi Lynn]

8. Clouds create that "boiled" effect for really hot weather!

Not bad at all if you're a tardigrade!

[John1956PA]

7. There is a 1989 movie about the stripper Blaze Starr.

The movie's cast features Paul Newman as Louisiana Governor Earl Long and Lolita Davidovich as Ms. Starr.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blaze_imp.jpg

[AllyCat]

9. Wish I had a telescope to see this.

Very cool! 😎

[John1956PA]

10. Here is an automobile analogy.

The star is going to go from zero to thirty, hang there for a few weeks, then fade away for another eighty years.

[Alice Kramden]

11. Thanks, Judi Lynn

You always share such interesting posts

[BumRushDaShow]

12. From Neil deGrasse Tyson last summer

[Fla Dem]

13. Thank you Judi Lynn

I live on the NE coast of Florida. Last night around 9:00 as I was putting out the trash for pick-up this morning, I notice how vibrant and bright the sky was. I was in awe at what I could see, the Big Dipper among all the bright stars that I have no idea what they are. But as I stood in my driveway facing west in awe, my neighbors walk by on their evening walk and said Hi to me. Surprised me because I was so entranced with the view I had of the sky and the many stars I never saw them coming.

Anyway, I hope tonight will be just as vivid and I get to see this once in a lifetime event.