´óÏó´«Ã½

A star some 3,000 light-years away will explode in a "once-in-a-lifetime" cosmic event this summer, according to astronomers at Nasa.

T Corona Borealis, known as the Blaze Star, is expected to erupt this summer – creating a light so bright we'll be able to see it from Earth.

This type of explosion is called a nova event.

“It’s incredibly exciting to have this front-row seat," said Nasa's Dr Rebekah Housell.

The explosion will happen in the Corona Borealis binary system.

That's when two stars orbit each other – in this case, the two stars are a white dwarf and a red giant.

It's the white dwarf star, called T Corona Borealis, that astronomers are expecting to erupt.

Yes, that's the T Corona Borealis star in the Corona Borealis system. Confusing!

The star is about the size of the Earth but has a much a larger mass which is similar to our Sun.

This means it has a very strong gravitational pull.

As a result, T Corona Borealis pulls hydrogen from the neighbouring red giant star onto its own surface.

As more and more hydrogen gathers on its surface, heat and pressure will build up – eventually triggering an explosion.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there," said Dr Hounsell, an assistant research scientist specialising in nova events at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

She said it would give "young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data".