Once in a lifetime ‘Zombie Star' may be visible Halloween night, NASA scientists say

While you're out taking the kids trick or treating this Halloween night, take a moment to look up at the night sky.

It's not a trick, one day very soon, NASA scientists expect a stellar explosion to wake up a dead star.

Dr. Elizabeth Hays, a NASA project scientist for FERMI, described what a "Zombie Star" is.

"It's a dead star, no longer burning like our sun. It's small but it has a red giant companion that's feeding it -- that's where it gets its 'zombie' nickname," Hays said. "It's building up material from the red giant star and so it's going to build up to a point that very briefly, the star can shine again because of the explosion on the surface."

Hays noted that a Zombie Star is visible likely only every 80 years, a once-in-a-lifetime event.