Flaring Red Dwarf Star (Illustration)

Flaring Red Dwarf Star

This illustration shows a red dwarf star orbited by a hypothetical exoplanet. Red dwarfs tend to be magnetically active, displaying gigantic arcing prominences and a wealth of dark sunspots. Red dwarfs also erupt with intense flares that could strip a nearby planet's atmosphere over time, or make the surface inhospitable to life as we know it.
By mining data from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft, a team of astronomers identified dozens of flares at a range of durations and strengths. The team measured events with less total energy than many previously detected flares from red dwarfs. This is important because, although individually less energetic and therefore less hostile to life, smaller flares might be much more frequent and add up over time to produce a cumulative effect on an orbiting planet.
Caltech in Pasadena led the GALEX mission, which ended in 2013 after more than a decade of scanning the skies in ultraviolet light. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also in Pasadena, managed the mission and built the science instrument. JPL is managed by Caltech for NASA.

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