[zeestephen]

Proxima Centauri is about 4.25 light years from Earth. It is a red dwarf star with about one-eighth the mass of our sun.

50% to 75% of the exoplanets in the Milky Way are thought to be in systems with a red dwarf star.

Theoretically, this kind of massive flaring on red dwarfs has been predicted before. However, since their normal light is so faint, it is very difficult to study red dwarfs, especially across the entire wavelength of light.

It has been predicted that red dwarfs may eject massive flares as often as several times each day.

Many red dwarfs are in double or triple star systems. It is thought that the powerful gravity of such nearby stars is the cause of massive turbulence inside red dwarfs.

If the theory of hyperactive red dwarfs is correct, this would mean that the probability of life on other planets is very low.

Intense ultraviolet flares like the one that was ejected from Proxima Centauri would eventually destroy the atmosphere and all surface life on any habitable planet.

[Paladin2]

Unexpected AND unprecedented?

[Pez149]

This display was meant to to answer those who believed that there’s life in that star system.
Something on our sun close to this would be catastrophic.

[entropy12]

I better spend all my money before OUR SUN decides to flare out.

[Alas Babylon!]

Isn’t Fauci a Red (Commie) Dwarf?

[hotsteppa]

There goes that theory about the habitability of Proxima Centauri b. Any life there would be sterilized by these flares.

[DannyTN]

Fried Centauri...tastes like chicken

[Rebelbase]

“stars that are unusually petite and dim.”

There is a lot of that in Hollywood.

[GreenHornet]

Proxima Centauri ejected a flare, or a burst of radiation that begins near the surface of a star, that ranks as one of the most violent seen anywhere in the galaxy..."The star went from normal to 14,000 times brighter when seen in ultraviolet wavelengths over the span of a few seconds," said MacGregor.

Someone on Preoxima Centauri had a gender reveal party that went wrong.

[Fred Hayek]

I also suspect that frequent flaring of red dwarf stars are due to that the whole star is in convection. Plasma going in a convection loop generates magnetic fields.