Gigantic flare from sun’s nearest neighbor breaks records
Solar flare. Photo by NRAO/S. Dagnello.
Now, that’s one big cosmic explosion.
A research team led by Meredith MacGregor, assistant professor at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA), has observed the largest flare ever recorded from the sun’s nearest neighbor: the star Proxima Centauri.
Proxima Centauri is a “red dwarf” star that sits just four light-years from Earth. And on May 1, 2019, researchers saw it erupt in a record-setting explosion using a suite of five instruments in space and on the ground.
“The star went from normal to 14,000 times brighter when seen in ultraviolet wavelengths over the span of a few seconds,” MacGregor said.
She added that such flares from Proxima Centauri might be more common than scientists think—bad news for any nearby lifeforms.
Principal investigator
Meredith MacGregor
Funding
National Science Foundation (NSF); NASA
Collaboration + support
Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy; Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP); National Solar Observatory
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Humongous flare from sun’s nearest neighbor breaks records