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An Ultra-Powerful Flare Erupted From Our Nearest Neighbor Star
popularmechanics ^ | Apr 10, 2018 | By John Wenz

Posted on 04/10/2018 3:24:28 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the sun, recently burst forth with one of the most powerful flares ever seen for a star its size. The small red dwarf is generally invisible to the human eye, but this flare may have lit it up bright enough for some naked eye observers to see the event—at least under the right conditions, according to Alison Youngblood, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

According to the team's findings, the star brightened by a factor of 68 during the "superflare," unleashing 316,227,766,000 petajoules (316,227 petawatts) of energy.

Proxima Centauri is just 4.2 light years away, but it's a member of the smallest class of normal stars called red dwarfs, which only emit faint visible light. As such, it sits at magnitude 11—whereas the human eye can see magnitudes up to 6 or 7. (A low magnitude number indicates a high brightness, and some solar system objects are bright enough to dip into negative numbers on the scale.) The flare event placed the star at magnitude 6.8, which would have been as bright as a dim star on a clear, very dark night.

When the flare originally took place two years ago it was detected by the Evryscope, a nightly sky survey telescope that connects 24 consumer-grade camera lenses to look for transient events and transiting planets. The flare was 10 times more powerful than any ever witnessed from Proxima Centauri, which is already known for its quite volatile nature.

(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: acesat; alphacentauric; apod; astronomy; catastrophism; cme; coronalmassejection; proximacentauri; proximacentaurib; reddwarf; science; xplanets
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Cfredit: Everyscope
1 posted on 04/10/2018 3:24:28 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

So that’s why I haven’t heard from my Centauri pen pal in a couple of years.


2 posted on 04/10/2018 3:26:33 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: BenLurkin

” 316,227,766,000 petajoules (316,227 petawatts)”

This makes no sense.

Anyone have any idea what it means?

316,227 petawatts for a million seconds?


3 posted on 04/10/2018 3:31:08 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: BenLurkin

These types of red dwarf flares normally last only a few minutes. The peak brilliance quoted (x68) probably lasted less than 30 seconds.


4 posted on 04/10/2018 3:33:34 PM PDT by Spirochete (GOP: Gutless Old Party)
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To: DuncanWaring

I have no idea.


5 posted on 04/10/2018 3:35:27 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5600799/Mammoth-solar-flare-Earth-like-exoplanet-Proxima-b-spell-doom-life-star.html


6 posted on 04/10/2018 3:39:25 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: Spirochete

But still more than enough time to fry any life on a planet orbiting it in the habitability zone


7 posted on 04/10/2018 3:40:44 PM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: DannyTN
#2 It does not look good for the alien creature pen pal of yours.
ping
8 posted on 04/10/2018 3:43:24 PM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: qam1

We’ll need to blow up Proxima Centauri BEFORE we start our colony in that system.

Perhaps by then we’ll have the technology to make useful stuff up out of a blowed-up star?

Man, we’ll need a poop-ton of dynomite!


9 posted on 04/10/2018 3:45:52 PM PDT by Alas Babylon! (If white privilege is real, why do we have millions of poor white people?)
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To: DuncanWaring
"316,227,766,000 petajoules (316,227 petawatts)” This makes no sense. Anyone have any idea what it means?"

Watts you talkin about, Willis?

A single petawatt is 1,000,000,000,000,000 (a quadrillion) watts. Compared to a blowdryer, or a microwave, at about 1,000 watts. You wouldn't want to get too close.

10 posted on 04/10/2018 3:51:32 PM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything it's that history rarely teaches us anything.)
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To: BenLurkin

This is why it’s useless to search for livable planets around red dwarfs.....too many flares that will fry anything in the Goldilocks zone.


11 posted on 04/10/2018 3:57:38 PM PDT by Politically Correct (A member of the rabble in good standing)
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To: DannyTN

A “MAIN EVENT”, like Kohoutek.


12 posted on 04/10/2018 4:02:17 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: outofsalt
Gotta figure out what that statement is supposed to be about. Watts and joules don't measure the same thing. Watts are a measurement of power, joules of energy.

Now, watt-SECONDS and joules, those are the same.

316,227,766,000 petajoules != 316,227 petawatt-seconds, though. Not by a long shot.

13 posted on 04/10/2018 4:16:51 PM PDT by thulldud ("What makes it news is its dissemination, not its concrete reality." -- Ellul)
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To: DuncanWaring
” 316,227,766,000 petajoules (316,227 petawatts)” This makes no sense. Anyone have any idea what it means? 316,227 petawatts for a million seconds?

Yeah, something does not compute.

A joule is a watt-second.

You can not convert between joules and watts (peta or not) unless there is some unstated time factor involved.

14 posted on 04/10/2018 4:18:41 PM PDT by Zeppo ("Happy Pony is on - and I'm NOT missing Happy Pony")
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To: thulldud

You at correct. Apparently, my Newton Meter was turned off.


15 posted on 04/10/2018 4:34:01 PM PDT by outofsalt (If history teaches us anything it's that history rarely teaches us anything.)
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To: BenLurkin

Old news. Happened four years ago! ;^)


16 posted on 04/10/2018 4:40:50 PM PDT by Dalberg-Acton
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To: DuncanWaring

17 posted on 04/10/2018 5:42:39 PM PDT by DoodleBob
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To: qam1
But still more than enough time to fry any life on a planet orbiting it in the habitability zone

These sorts of flares are much hotter that the photosphere - around 10,000 to 20,000 kelvin, hence they (briefly) produce large amounts of UV. Enough to stimulate the production of an ozone layer in an oxygen rich atmosphere.

18 posted on 04/10/2018 6:02:46 PM PDT by Spirochete (GOP: Gutless Old Party)
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To: Spirochete

By comparison, the photosphere for a red dwarf is somewhere around the 2500-3200 Kelvin range. Energy radiated per unit area is proportional to the temperature to the fourth power, according to the Stefan-Boltzmann equation.


19 posted on 04/10/2018 6:58:32 PM PDT by Fred Hayek (The Democratic Party is now the operational arm of the CPUSA)
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To: Spirochete

How would the oxygen get there?


20 posted on 04/10/2018 7:05:16 PM PDT by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
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