Stellar Flare-Associated Radio Burst Detected from Proxima Centauri

Astronomers have detected a bright, long-duration optical flare accompanied by intense radio bursts from Proxima Centauri, the Sun’s nearest stellar neighbor. Their results are an important step to using radio signals from distant stars to effectively produce space weather reports.

Proxima Centauri, the smallest member of the Alpha Centauri system, is an M5.5-type star located 4.244 light-years away in the southern constellation of Centaurus.

The star has a measured radius of 14% the radius of the Sun, a mass of about 12% solar, and an effective temperature of only around 3,050 K (2,777 degrees Celsius, or 5,031 degrees Fahrenheit).

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Image credit: Mark Myers / OzGrav.

An artist’s impression of a powerful flare from Proxima Centauri ejecting material onto a nearby planet.

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