This system consists of a redgiantorbited by a white dwarf, with the white dwarf gradually drawing matter from the giant star. Periodically, the accretion of mass by the white dwarf will cause it to flare into a brilliant nova, so that periodically this faint tenth-magnitudestar will become briefly visible to the naked eye (hence the name 'Blaze Star'). These flares take place over a cycle of approximately eighty years, with the last being observed from 1945 to 1946, and the next is therefore probably due in 2025 or 2026 (the star is already showing fluctuations that typically presage an eruption, so the flare appears to be imminent).