Red Dwarf star spotted with blazing flares using 3.8-metre Seimei telescope

Astronomers have been able to capture a red dwarf in the Milky Way that has been called the “AD Leonis". The star was found to have some huge flares, where one of them had such extensive flares that it was said to be 20 times larger than that of the solar flares released by the Sun. It was noted that the red dwarf is only 16 light-years away from the planet Earth. It was seen with such massive flare that it was called a "Superflare".

Whenever radiated from the Sun, it is thought to lead to magnetic tempests that could affect the technological infrastructure of the Earth. Fortunately, researchers have stated that such a solar flare is extremely uncommon for the Sun.

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Red Dwarf Star - What results in the high rate of flares?

A group of astronomers from the Graduate School of Science of Kyoto University were able to capture the AD Leonis star with the help of a 3.8-metre Seimei telescope. The star is also said to have temperatures lower than that of the Sun, which brings about a high rate of flares. In addition, the experts also identified a Superflare during the first night of observations.

Kosuke Namekata, one of the astronomers from the Kyoto University, stated that their analyses of the Superflare have brought about some very intriguing data. The findings were covered in a research paper that also appeared in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan this month.

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The Solar flares emitted from the stars are nothing new, however, the size of flares that were released by the newly spotted red dwarf star appeared to be much larger and extensive than what is normally seen. Experts also discovered the flares released from regions where light from excited hydrogen atoms surged. It was barely one order of magnitude larger than the flares generally observed from the Sun.

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Namekata also stated that this was completely new as most of the flare studies have focused on the continuum of the light spectrum, the broader range of wavelengths, instead of the energy released from specific atoms. He also said that the details recorded from the fundamental stellar phenomena will help predict superflares that could have any impact on the Earth.

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Image credits: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan