An explosion on another star (artist’s impression)
This artist’s impression shows a coronal mass ejection (CME) around another star. We see these eruptions coming often from the Sun. During a CME, massive amounts of material are flung out from our star, flooding the surrounding space. These dramatic expulsions shape and drive space weather, such as the dazzling auroras we see on Earth, and can chip away at the atmospheres of any nearby planets.
Astronomers using ESA’s XMM-Newton space observatory and the LOFAR telescope have now definitively spotted a CME around another star for the first time. The explosive burst of material would be powerful enough to strip away the atmosphere of any unlucky planet in its path.
[Image description: An artist’s impression of a large red star releasing a bright, explosive burst of light. Swirling red and orange patterns surround the star, suggesting intense activity. In the background, a smaller blue planet appears with a faint, wispy trail extending away from it, indicating its atmosphere being blown off. The scene is set against a dark space backdrop dotted with stars.]
