Stellar encore: Dying star keeps coming back big time

Cape Canaveral, Fla. — Astronomers say they have discovered a dying star that keeps coming back.

The star 500 million light-years away exploded in 2014 and also, apparently back in 1954.

This is one supernova that refuses to bite the cosmic dust, confounding scientists who thought they knew how dying stars ticked.

The oft-erupting star is located in the Big Bear constellation. It was discovered in 2014 and, at the time, resembled your basic supernova. But astronomers saw it getting brighter a few months later and several times after that. They’ve also found evidence of an explosion 60 years earlier at the same spot.

Supernovas typically fade over 100 days. This one is still going after 1,000 days.

The finding was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.