Record-breaking! Bigger than a solar flare, this young star was incredible

How does coronal mass ejection affect Earth?

What is coronal mass ejection?

This solar-like star eruption is about 10 times more powerful than any similar phenomenon observed on the Sun.

Artists depict the young star EK Draconis releasing a coronal mass ejection during the operation of two planets.

Artists depict the young star EK Draconis releasing a coronal mass ejection during the operation of two planets. (Image source: Japan National Astronomical Observatory)

A new study has found that astronomers may be detecting for the first time a solar-like stellar eruption 10 times the size of any similar event we see from the sun.

The researchers say the new results could reveal the impact such a powerful eruption could have had on the early Earth at the time of life, as well as on modern Earth and social activity.

Our sun often releases flares, and each flare releases the same amount of energy released by millions of hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time. Solar flares are usually accompanied by huge bright solar plasma tendrils, also known as filaments, and the superheated plasma bubbles it can release are called coronal mass ejections, which travel millions of miles per hour through space.

When coronal mass ejections hit Earth, they blow up satellites in orbit and cause major disturbances known as geomagnetic storms, which can wreak havoc on the power grid. In 1989, for example, a coronal mass ejection blackouted the entire Canadian province of Quebec in seconds, damaging transformers as far away as New Jersey and nearly shutting down the U.S. power grid from the mid-Atlantic to the Pacific Northwest.

"Coronal mass ejections can have a serious impact on Earth and human society," Yuta Notsu, an astrophysicist at the University of Colorado boulder, co-author of the study, said in a statement.

Previous research has found that distant yellow dwarfs can erupt "super flares" with an energy 10 times that of the largest known solar flare. Theoretically, super flares could erupt into an equally powerful coronal mass ejection, far more powerful than any material produced by our sun, but until now astronomers have not seen any real evidence.

"Coronal mass ejection is the most important aspect when considering the effects of superflaries on planets, especially our Planet," Notsu told Space.

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

Previous work has found that EK Drconis frequently erupts with flares, suggesting that astronomers monitoring it may be lucky when looking for super flares and massive coronal mass ejections. In the new study, scientists observed EK Draconis between January 2020 and April 2020 using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, Kyoto University's Harumi Telescope, and Nishibama Observatory's Nayuda Telescope.

On April 5, 2020, the team's hunch paid off — scientists detected a superflint, and about 30 minutes later, a suspected coronal mass ejection was detected moving at about 1.1 million mph (1.8 million km/h). The researchers estimated that its mass was 10 times greater than that of the largest known coronal mass ejection.

"This is the first time that a solar-type star has been detected that a coronal mass ejection may occur," Notsu told Space.com.

Notsu noted that the team can only capture the initial stages of the coronal mass ejection, so it is still uncertain whether it falls back on the star or is thrown into space, and that a series of telescopes should be used in the future to observe around other stars to study the later stages of the coronal mass ejection.

These findings suggest that the young sun may also have erupted with massive coronal mass ejections, which in turn may have affected early Earth. "In other words, coronal mass ejection may be closely related to the environment in which life was born," Notsu told Space.com.

Notsu notes that superflaries on our sun are indeed rare. Still, data from tree rings and other sources suggest that the sun's super flares may have hit Earth multiple times over the past ten thousand years.

"It's important to discuss the possibilities and impacts of superflaries and hyperscale coronal mass projectiles on our society," Notsu said.

Related knowledge

Coronal mass ejection is a significant event that accompanies the corona's release of material from the Sun. They usually appear during the eruption of the prominence and are often accompanied by the appearance of the sun's flares. Plasma released into the solar wind can be observed in images of the corona. Coronal mass ejection is often associated with other forms of solar activity, and theories of these relationships have been widely accepted. Coronal mass ejections usually come from active regions of the Sun, such as sunspot swarms that are frequently associated with flares.

BY: Charles Q. Choi

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