![]() ![]() Based on the length of the flares and of the observations, the authors concluded that Barnard's Star unleashes potentially destructive flares about 25% of the time.Ĭredit: X-ray light curve: NASA/CXC/University of Colorado/K. Both observations were about seven hours long and both plots show X-ray or ultraviolet brightness extending down to zero. The research team's Chandra observations of Barnard's Star taken in June 2019 uncovered one X-ray flare (shown in the inset box) and their Hubble observations taken in March 2019 revealed two ultraviolet high-energy flares (shown in an additional graphic). This artist's illustration depicts an old red dwarf like Barnard's Star (right) and an orbiting, rocky planet (left). The authors used Barnard's Star as a case study to learn how flares from an old red dwarf might affect any planets orbiting it. It is about 10 billion years old, making it twice the age of the Sun. Barnard's Star is a red dwarf, a small star that slowly burns through its fuel supply and can last much longer than medium-sized stars like our Sun. A new study using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope gives new insight into an important question: how habitable are planets that orbit the most common type of stars in the Galaxy? The target of the new study, as reported in our press release, is Barnard's Star, which is one of the closest stars to Earth at a distance of just 6 light years.
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