Tiny, Ultracool Star is Super Stormy

November 19, 2015
Tiny, Ultracool Star is Super Stormy

"Our Sun is a relatively quiet star that only occasionally releases solar flares or blasts of energetic particles that threaten satellites and power grids. You might think that smaller, cooler stars would be even more sedate. However, astronomers have now identified a tiny star with a monstrous temper. It shows evidence of much stronger flares than anything our Sun produces. If similar stars prove to be just as stormy, then potentially habitable planets orbiting them are likely to be much less hospitable than previously thought"

See more at: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2015-26#sthash.cyOIg2pB.dpuf

Image Credit: Artist's impression of red dwarf star TVLM 513-46546. ALMA observations suggest that it has an amazingly powerful magnetic field (shown by the blue lines), potentially associated with a flurry of solar-flare-like eruptions. Credit:
NRAO/AUI/NSF; Dana Berry / SkyWorks