Scientists are concerned about a star that is younger but similar in size to the Sun. They believe that everyone should be concerned as well. EK Draconis is a star hundreds of light-years away from us that has been exploding with huge pyrotechnics. Scientists just witnessed it ejecting charged particles so intense that the Sun has never seen anything like it.
The Sun frequently causes solar storms after coronal mass ejections (CMEs). According to the astronomers, this star endured an energy surge at least ten times greater than the largest CME the Sun has ever seen. They went on to say that the Sun, too, may be hit by a bombardment of similar scale, and that it could be considerably worse.
The researchers, astronomer Yuta Notsu of the University of Colorado Boulder, reported the findings in the journal Nature Astronomy. The study is titled "Probable Detection of an Eruptive Filament From a Superflare on a Solar-Type Star."
Scientists Detect a Massive Storm From a Sun-Like Star
According to researchers (per Fox59), EK Draconis is a curious star nearly the same size as the Sun yet barely 100 million years old. On the other hand, EK Draconis can provide a view of how the Sun could have seemed billions of years ago.
Last year, scientists used NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and Japan's SEIMEI telescopes to observe EK Draconis for the research. EK Draconis erupted in a gigantic superflare on April 5, 2020. A CME burst from the star's surface half an hour later, which the telescopes picked up.
The flare was enough to determine that the flare was a monster, with a peak speed of around one million miles per hour. It would be disastrous for life on Earth.
The superflare was related to the ejection in the research, and it was proposed that something similar may happen on Earth. However, they stressed that the Sun is calmer and rare such extremes.
"This kind of big mass ejection could, theoretically, also occur on our sun," said Notsu in a statement. "This observation may help us to better understand how similar events may have affected Earth and even Mars over billions of years."
While this research serves as a cautionary note, it also raises the issue of how the Sun behaved when it was younger and more prone to such violent outbursts.
CMEs Might Have Helped in Formation of Planets
Scientists believe that super CMEs are more common in older stars despite the alarming warning, according to PopSci. They might have been substantially more frequent in the solar system's early years. To put it another way, massive coronal mass ejections may have aided the formation of planets like Earth and Mars.
Experts recognize that just because a glob of plasma is hurled out from a star doesn't indicate it will hit one of the planets circling that star. According to experts, coronal mass ejections emphasize the need to look beyond the atmosphere of a possibly Earth-like planet while looking for extraterrestrial life.
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