There will be a new brightest star in the sky, when it explodes in about 60 years

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

Updated 3:14 PM ET, Wed January 8, 2020

This is an infrared image of Apep, a Wolf-Rayet star binary system located 8,000 light-years from Earth.
Photos: Wonders of the universe
This is an infrared image of Apep, a Wolf-Rayet star binary system located 8,000 light-years from Earth.
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An artist's illustration, left, helps visualize the details of an unusual star system, GW Orionis, in the Orion constellation. The system's circumstellar disk is broken, resulting in misaligned rings around its three stars.
Photos: Wonders of the universe
An artist's illustration, left, helps visualize the details of an unusual star system, GW Orionis, in the Orion constellation. The system's circumstellar disk is broken, resulting in misaligned rings around its three stars.
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This is a simulation of two spiral black holes that merge and emit gravitational waves.
Photos: Wonders of the universe
This is a simulation of two spiral black holes that merge and emit gravitational waves.
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This artist's illustration shows the unexpected dimming of the star Betelgeuse.
Photos: Wonders of the universe
This artist's illustration shows the unexpected dimming of the star Betelgeuse.
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This extremely distant galaxy, which looks similar to our own Milky Way, appears like a ring of light.
Photos: Wonders of the universe
This extremely distant galaxy, which looks similar to our own Milky Way, appears like a ring of light.
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This artist's interpretation shows the calcium-rich supernova 2019ehk. The orange represents the calcium-rich material created in the explosion. Purple reveals gas shed by the star right before the explosion.
Photos: Wonders of the universe
This artist's interpretation shows the calcium-rich supernova 2019ehk. The orange represents the calcium-rich material created in the explosion. Purple reveals gas shed by the star right before the explosion.
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The blue dot at the center of this image marks the approximate location of a supernova event which occurred 140 million light-years from Earth, where a white dwarf exploded and created an ultraviolet flash. It was located close to tail of the Draco constellation.
Photos: Wonders of the universe
The blue dot at the center of this image marks the approximate location of a supernova event which occurred 140 million light-years from Earth, where a white dwarf exploded and created an ultraviolet flash. It was located close to tail of the Draco constellation.
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This radar image captured by NASA's Magellan mission to Venus in 1991 shows a corona, a large circular structure 120 miles in diameter, named Aine Corona.