Astronomers spy record-breaking eruption on young sunlike star

.space.com ^ | 12/09/2021 | Charles Q. Choi

[BenLurkin]

Astronomers may have, for the first time, detected a sunlike star erupting with a giant outburst 10 times larger than anything similar ever seen from our sun, a new study finds.

The new results may shed light on the effects such powerful outbursts may have had on the early Earth when life was born, and could have on modern Earth and our societies, researchers said.

Our sun often unleashes flares that can each pack as much energy as millions of hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time. Solar flares are often accompanied by giant bright tendrils of solar plasma known as filaments, which can unleash magnetic bubbles of superhot plasma called coronal mass ejections that hurtle through space at millions of miles per hour.

In the new study, the researchers analyzed EK Draconis, a star located about 111 light-years from Earth. EK Draconis is a yellow dwarf like the sun, but is much younger at only 50 million to 125 million years old. "It's what our sun looked like 4.5 billion years ago," Notsu said in the statement.

Prior work found that EK Draconis often erupted with flares, which suggested that astronomers monitoring it could get lucky in the hunt for superflares and giant coronal mass ejections. In the new study, the scientists observed EK Draconis from January to April 2020 using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, Kyoto University's Seimei telescope and the Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory's Nayuta telescope.

On April 5, 2020, the research team's hunch paid off — the scientists detected a superflare that was followed about 30 minutes later by what appeared to be a coronal mass ejection moving at about 1.1 million mph (1.8 million kph). They estimated its mass to be 10 times bigger than that of the largest known solar coronal mass ejection.

[xp38]

What are they trying to do? Embarrass our Sun and make it feel insecure and inferior?

[telescope115]

Is it pointed at us? If it is, we 111yrs to get our affairs in order.

[Telepathic Intruder]

If we're seeing it, it actually happened 111 years ago. I think everyone should just ignore the speed of light delay when talking about cosmic events. Whatever we see, for all intents and purposes, is happing now in our reference frame. It doesn't matter that it actually occurred in the past.

[thepoodlebites]

(What are they trying to do? Embarrass our Sun and make it feel insecure and inferior?)

Rejoice oh young star in thy youth.

Our sun went through its T-Tauri phase and blew Earth’s primordial atmosphere into space (mostly highly volatile compounds like methane and ammonia). The subsequent heating and outgassing from volcanic activity resulted in a highly reduced atmosphere of water vapor, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. When earth’s atmosphere reached saturation temperature, all of the water vapor (~100 bars) rained out to form the oceans. Oxygen came later from an explosion of algae and other plant life but that’s another story. The comet theory for our oceans is invalid because of a significant difference in the O18/O16 ratio found in comets compared with that of ocean water.

Sadly, venus most likely contained as much water as on earth initially but the atmosphere never cooled enough to reach saturation vapor pressure. All of the water eventually boiled off into space. The oceans on earth stabilized the climate along with earth’s magnetic field and the presence of a large moon to keep earth’s axis from tipping on its side. We’re ackshully very lucky to be here. Then there is the argument for intelligent design but I digress.

-Frank

[Telepathic Intruder]

"We’re ackshully very lucky to be here"

An interesting topic. Just how lucky is still open for grabs. Planets capable of life may be common, or one in a trillion, in which case we may be the only one in the whole galaxy.

But just consider the variables. The Earth is the right distance from the sun. The sun itself is unusually stable, producing no planet-killing superflares within last 3 or 4 billion years. Probably because of its low spin. The solar system itself is very stable, due to orbital resonances of all the planets, especially Jupiter. The earth has a large moon to help stabilize its axial tilt. How common is that? The earth's magnetic field protects us from atmosphere loss and solar radiation. The fractured crust brings up fresh material from the mantle in a slow, mostly non-destructive fashion. There may be a dozen other factors that make earth suitable for life, so what are the odds of it all happening in one place? With only a single statistical example, no one can say. Then again, major extinction events occur roughly every 100 million years, resetting life back to the earlier beginnings.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin.

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