The Tiny Star with a Monster Flare (DG CVn) P.2

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]that a flare event, uh, if you will, that lasted almost 20 [music] days.

[00:00:08]This was a very different star than the Sun, so we don't really have to worry about this [music] happening in the present-day Sun. The young Sun, such large events may have occurred. In the [music] present-day Sun, the activity levels are much lower. And fundamental reason that DG CVn [music] is more active than the Sun is that a very young star, 30 million years, it's rapidly rotating. Young stars are born that way, and rapid rotation is one [music] of the key ingredients that powers activity. The faster the rotation, the greater the activity.

[00:00:39]While not a threat to us, the massive flares [music] of red dwarf stars can help us better understand the flares produced by our own Sun.

[00:00:47]They are also of interest because red dwarf [music] stars are often orbited by planets.

[00:00:52]Some data suggest that 40% [music] of red dwarfs have super-Earth-type planets orbiting in a habitable zone where liquid water is possible.

[00:01:01]If this is [music] true, then they are good candidates for supporting life.

[00:01:05]However, the habitable zone around a cool, dim star [music] like DG CVn is much closer to the star than the Earth is to the Sun.

[00:01:14]When planets [music] are closer to their star, they're more susceptible to anything the star does. For instance, if the star flares, uh, the planet [music] is much closer to the star, and it can be hit [music] by the radiation or the particles that get ejected from the star when this flare [music] process happens.