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For around six months the Boom Star will be one of the brightest in the sky before gradually dimming. It is the first time scientists have ever predicted the birth of a new star and astronomers expect a race to be the first to spot it.

Dr. Robert Massey, of the Royal Astronomical Society, said: “What we’re talking about you might literally call the birth of a new star.

“The good news for people in the UK is that it is in the constellation Cygnus which is always above the horizon and is very high in the sky in the summer, so everyone will be able to see it.”

The forecast was made at a press conference Friday that coincided with the Epiphany, commemorating the visit of the Magi, who followed a newborn star to Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus.

The binary star system, named KIC9832227, is 1,800 light years away and comprises two suns which spin around each other every 11 hours.

In 2013, Larry Molnar and his team at Calvin College noticed that the orbital speed was decreasing. And doing so faster and faster.

It matched the data from another binary star which exploded in 2008 without warning. When experts went back over data from previous years they discovered that the crash could have been predicted.

Molnar said: “Observations of KIC9832227 show its orbital period has been getting faster since 1999 in the same distinctive way. We arrive at our predicted date by assuming the same process is happening here. The star is around 1,800 light years [away]. Hence if we are right about the upcoming outburst, it actually occurred 1,795 years ago, and the light from the outburst has been travelling toward us ever since.

He added that the case was “unique in that it is the first time anyone has predicted an explosion in advance”.

“It’s a one-in-a-million chance that you can predict an explosion. It’s never been done before.”

Walhout added: “If Larry’s prediction is correct, his project will demonstrate for the first time that astronomers can catch certain binary stars in the act of dying, and that they can track the last few years of a stellar death spiral up to the point of final, dramatic explosion.”