Australian astronomers say they have spotted a super-powerful star that could explode at any moment in one of the most-powerful detonations since the Big Bang.

And this ticking time bomb is not far from Earth.

In a part of the Milky Way 8000-odd light-years away, two stars, each about 30 times bigger than our sun, are circling around each other. Their combined gravity is making each star spin on its axis at incredible speeds.

An image of the super-powerful star dubbed 'Apep'. Credit:University of Sydney/European Southern Observatory

It’s a final danse macabre before the largest star in the system explodes.