In the context of physical phenomena, a flare is a transient, intense increase in electromagnetic radiation and often particle emission from an astrophysical object, typically associated with rapid energy release in a magnetized plasma. Solar and stellar flares arise from magnetic reconnection in the corona, converting stored magnetic energy into heating, particle acceleration, and broadband radiation from radio to gamma rays on timescales of seconds to hours. Flares are characterized by impulsive and gradual phases, nonthermal electron and ion populations, and can drive associated phenomena such as coronal mass ejections, shock waves, and disturbances in surrounding magnetized environments.
What happens when a solar superstorm hits Mars? Thanks to the European Space Agency's Mars orbiters, we now know: glitching spacecraft and a supercharged upper atmosphere.
Astronomy
Mar 5, 2026
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On July 2, 2025, the China-led Einstein Probe (EP) space telescope detected an exceptionally bright X-ray source whose brightness varied rapidly during a routine sky survey. Its unusual signal immediately set it apart from ...
Astronomy
Feb 10, 2026
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Deep in the frozen heart of Antarctica, the South Pole Telescope has been watching one of the most extreme neighborhoods in our galaxy, and it's just caught something extraordinary happening there. Astronomers have detected ...
Astronomy
Jan 31, 2026
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An international team of astronomers has analyzed the data from long-term multiwavelength monitoring of a distant blazar known as OP 313. Results of the new study, published January 18 on the arXiv preprint server, shed more ...
Researchers from the South Pole Telescope project team looked deep into the center of the Milky Way, discovering powerful, surprising bursts of light from two accreting white dwarf systems.
Astronomy
Jan 20, 2026
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443
One of the main questions in exoplanet science concerns M dwarfs (red dwarfs) and the habitability of exoplanets that orbit them. These stars are known for their prolific and energetic flaring, and that's a problem. M dwarfs ...
Astrobiology
Jan 6, 2026
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28
Using the Einstein Probe (EP), astronomers have detected a new X-ray transient event, which turned out to be an X-ray flare from the star PM J23221-0301 located about 150 light years away. The finding was reported in a research ...
An international team of astronomers has investigated a short-lived optical flare designated AT2022zod. As a result, they found evidence indicating that this flare is an unusual tidal disruption event. The findings were presented ...
Like a toddler right before naptime, TRAPPIST-1 is a small yet moody star. This little star, which sits in the constellation Aquarius about 40 light-years from Earth, spits out bursts of energy known as "flares" about six ...
Astronomy
Dec 4, 2025
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The first private space science satellite set to study the effect of flares from stars has been launched into space and is now in orbit, the company behind it has said.
Space Exploration
Dec 1, 2025
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