Recently, a small star that has a size similar to Jupiter, a so-called Jupiter-size star, found 250 light years away from Earth, emitted a huge superflare. At that moment, the star released the energy equivalent of 80 billion tons of TNT. At the same time, the brightness was 10,000 times larger than usual.
Moreover, it was ten times more powerful than any outburst we had seen until now from the Sun. That also includes the significant Carrington event, which took place back in 1859 and affected telegraph services all over the world. What’s more, it had triggered various auroral displays.
A Jupiter-size star still possesses a strong magnetic field, making white light superflares possible
James Jackman is a doctoral student at the University of Warwick. He is also the lead author of a paper that tackles the topic of the eruption. According to him, the more you go to lower and lower masses, you will notice the activity of the stars decreases. Scientists further expect the source of the flare (the chromosphere) to weaken or cool.
Jackman adds that this shows that at this level, there is still a strong magnetic activity, proven by the white-light flare. The star that has been noticed is, in fact, an L dwarf. Its official name is ULAS J224940.13-011236.9. For those of you who may not know, L dwarfs are ones of the lowest mass bodies that can be named a star. They’re actually a mid-ground between stars and brown dwarfs.
Finally, following the flare in August 2017, scientists hope to find out more about the bright light flares and how they occur. The most exciting thing about them is that they include some high-energy UV emissions that might help kick-start some biological activity. This may even be an essential starting point for further research on cosmic activity and how it relates to our life on Earth.
Andre Blair s is the lead editor for . He holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Science in Public Health (M.S.P.H.) from the School of Public Health, Department of Health Administration, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Andre specializes in environmental health, but writes on a variety of issues.