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yesterday

Astronomers Confirm First Coronal Mass Ejection From Another Star

The finding raises concerns for exoplanet atmospheres around active red dwarfs.

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.
An artist's illustration depicts the XMM-Newton observatory in space.
Star Explosion

Overview

  • A Nature paper published on November 12 reports a confirmed CME from the red dwarf StKM 1-1262 about 130 light-years away.
  • Researchers identified a short, Type II–like radio burst in LOFAR data using a new processing method, with XMM-Newton observations supplying the activity context and motion estimates.
  • The ejected plasma traveled at roughly 2,400 km/s (about 5.3 million mph), a speed reached by only about one in 2,000 solar CMEs, indicating material escaped the star’s magnetic environment.
  • StKM 1-1262 is a highly magnetically active, rapidly rotating red dwarf, underscoring that smaller stars can produce exceptionally powerful eruptions.
  • Scientists caution that occurrence rates and system-wide impacts remain uncertain and call for broader multiwavelength follow-ups to assess risks to nearby planetary atmospheres.