Scientists have recently observed a terrifying burst of fire erupting from Proxima Centauri, the closest star to us. This burst of energy could potentially annihilate any potentially habitable planets, which were discovered a few years ago.
The “Solar Storm” on another star is much more powerful than the Solar Storm of our world –
Image: NRAO/S. Dagnello
According to research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, a ferocious energy storm recently erupted from Proxima Centauri, breaking its previous records. This was a “celestial fire” composed of plasma streams and dazzling light, radiating throughout the surrounding space, more powerful than any solar storm ever emitted by Earth’s sun.
Dr. Meredith MacGregor from the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States stated that they identified this spectacular event using super telescopes located in Australia and Chile, as well as NASA’s TESS satellite designed to survey exoplanets.
Unfortunately, this event indicates that if any planets with potential for life exist around this red dwarf star, the aforementioned fire is intense enough to incinerate them. The frequency of these intense fires from Proxima Centauri is too high, so there wouldn’t be enough time for any complex organic chemical reactions to survive long enough to create actual life. In other words, if life were to arise, it would have to endure a “doomsday” scenario from the “water egg” stage.
In 2016, a research team from eight countries published in Nature about a potentially habitable planet orbiting this much cooler red dwarf star, which is colder than the Sun. This planet is about 1.3 times the size of Earth and falls within the star’s “habitable zone.” However, the recently published research has dashed hopes of a habitable exoplanet within reach, as it’s only 4.2 light-years away.
This outburst caused the star to suddenly become up to 14,000 times brighter, but in a wavelength of radiation that is invisible to the human eye. However, for astronomers, this type of eruption in this wavelength is extremely rare and can provide unique data on how stars can flare up.