Proxima Centauri Solar Flare (IMAGE)
Caption
An artist’s impression of a flare from Proxima Centauri, modeled after the loops of glowing hot gas seen in the largest solar flares. An artist’s impression of the exoplanet Proxima b is shown in the foreground. Proxima b orbits its star 20 times closer than the Earth orbits the Sun. A flare 10 times larger than a major solar flare would blast Proxima b with 4,000 times more radiation than the Earth gets from our Sun’s flares.
Credit
Roberto Molar Candanosa / Carnegie Institution for Science, NASA/SDO, NASA/JPL
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