An artistic representation of a flare from HD 283572, a young nearby star. During quiescent (or quiet) periods, HD 283572 cannot be detected with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). However, on January 17 2022, an extreme flare event occurred, just when the SMA happened to be observing HD 283572. The SMA detected the rare, millimeter–wavelength part of this event, which could have produced a flaring loop that spanned a size larger than the entire star, with an energy output of over 1,000,000-times that of the millimeter flares produced by the Sun’s nearest stellar neighbors.
Client
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Project Type
Science Visualization
Category
Astrophysics
Credit
Melissa Weiss/CfA
Dr. Joshua Bennett Lovell and his team had the fortunate luck of viewing a bright stellar flare in a wavelength that rarely catches such phenomenon.
Illustrating the precise shape and size of the stellar flare was an important detail as to not confuse a general audience. Including a bright background star was also discussed as it was one possible explanation for a flare of this size.