Sucks to be you, any aliens living anywhere near Proxima Centauri's record-smashing solar flare

Astronomers have described the most energetic solar flare yet detected from Proxima Centauri, the Sun's closest stellar neighbor. It was a cosmic belch so intense, it's now pretty clear the star cannot provide the right conditions to support familiar DNA-based life on its exoplanets. On May 1, 2019, researchers led by the …

[Neil Barnes]

they doubt the star provides the right conditions to support DNA-based life

At least, any DNA-based life that *was* there, isn't any more.

On the other hand... anyone seen any Lensmen playing around there?

[WolfFan]

Re: they doubt the star provides the right conditions to support DNA-based life

Ah, yes. The Sunbeam. Some Boskonian loose planets just got vaporized.

[Magani]

Was it?

"Was that the Earth-shattering KABOOM?"

Marvin the Martian

[Pascal Monett]

Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

In a few billion years, our Sun will become a red giant, just like Proxima Centauri. At that point, a tentacled boffin from planet ZX527125-OF846b will present his findings to his fellow amoebas in much the same terms.

[My-Handle]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star, not a red giant. Red dwarfs are smaller than stars like our sun, so they don't glow as bright.

When our sun goes red giant, I think Earth will have problems other than solar flares. Being inside of the star's envelope might be a bigger problem :D

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

It's not being inside the envelope that's the problem. The damage comes from being hit by the stamp.

[KittenHuffer]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

I'm afraid it's all over for life on Earth looooong before our Sun leaves the mainstream and becomes a Red Giant, if the Earth remains in its present orbit.

Stars in the mainstream slowly become more luminous (brighter), and this causes the Goldilocks zone (between the frost line and the soot line) to migrate outward during the life of the star. The Earth should cross the soot line (where all water boils away) in less than a billion years.

So, during the next billion years mankind (or whatever comes after us) needs to figure out how to move the Earth to a higher orbit, or to launch a giant space wig to shield us from some of the sunlight!

[Paul Kinsler]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

Like this?

The 'Earth Rocket': a Method for Keeping the Earth in the Habitable Zone

Mark A. Wessels

The Sun is expected to increase its radiant output by about 10% per billion years. The rate at which the radius of the Earth's orbit would need to increase in order to keep the present value of the Sun's radiant flux at the Earth constant is calculated. The mechanical power required to achieve this is also calculated. Remarkably, this is a small fraction (2.3%) of the total solar flux currently intercepted by the Earth. Treating the Earth itself as a rocket, the thrust required to increase the orbit is found, as well as the rate of mass ejection. The Earth has sufficient mass to maintain this rate for several billion years, allowing for the possibility that the Earth could remain habitable to biological life for billions of years into the future.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.08550

[Reg Reader 1]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

Moving the Earth out of the soot zone is a great idea, but would being farther away from the increase the chances that Earth would be it by asteroids?

[Cuddles]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

If we have the technology and resources available to move the Earth into a different orbit, asteroids aren't likely to present much of an issue.

[RegGuy1]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

Ah, mind that bus. What bus? Splat!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

If we are in the Soot(y) zone, then I'm Sue we can Sweep any asteroids away. (been a long day)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

Sunlight is absorbed by the daytime side of the planet and will be re-radiated as IR. The longer any part of the surface is in daylight, the more IR it will radiate, so the day to night boundary will be the peak radiation zone. Conveniently, that's right where you need to thrust from to put us in a higher orbit. If only we didn't have all this CO2 stopping the IR from escaping we may have a chance after all.

[ITS Retired]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

The last I heard, the Earth rotates. I've been told that is the reason for day and night. Where would one place any kind of rocket to move the Earth to a higher orbit?

[Tom 7]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

On the moon and use that to gently nudge us outwards. Its about 1/16th the SA of the earth so well bit enough to do the job.

[spold]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

Cue up with the moon, I'll put the blue ball into the top-right pocket....

[zuckzuckgo]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

The moon also rotates, once a month.

[rcxb]

Re: move the Earth to a higher orbit,

Where would one place any kind of rocket to move the Earth to a higher orbit?

A gravity tractor may be the better way to go.

Either that or having everyone in Asia climb up on a chair and jump down all at the same time.

Could just shoot out a laser in the direction you want a boost.

But if you're determined to make it big rocket, near the equator is a good spot. Turn it on for 1/4 of the days when it'll push in roughly the correct direction, and stay off the rest of the time. Could put it on a huge barge and let it propel itself across the ocean to stay in the right orientation for much more of the day.

[Jimmy2Cows]

Re: huge barge

Given the momentum exchange needed to change the planet's orbit, wouldn't an ocean barge instantly submerge itself when the rocket fired? Uncontained water isn't so great for pushing against.

How much bouancy would such a barge need to remain afloat, and would the displacement caused raise sea levels enough to be a noticeable problem?

Intensely focussed sunlight, focussing 2.3% of the Earth's incoming solar energy onto the planet causing an ablative reaction and exothermic material expulsion seems to be the original suggestion. Just stay out of the beam. Or anywhere near it. Unless of course you like being vaporised before you realise there's a problem.

[S4qFBxkFFg]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

"So, during the next billion years mankind (or whatever comes after us) needs to figure out how to move the Earth to a higher orbit"

There was a Stephen Baxter novel that addressed this: the idea was to redirect asteroids and comets onto a trajectory towards Earth in such a way as to give it a gravity assist to raise its orbit.

[UCAP]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

Larry Niven also looked at it in A World Out of Time

[Diogenes8080]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

Also see Inconstant Moon (story, not entire anthology) by same author, for a lesser blink.

Then Flare Time (Limits) for much lesser regular blinks.

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

Fuck that - Lets just move the Earth to a new system altogether.

Just have to make sure that no rogue freewill computers (Icon Angel 1 & 2) come chasing after us centuries later or are fried by suitably named AV program upon arrival.

[Jimmy2Cows]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

Perfect. You fire up the antimatter reactors, I'll open the hyperspace window. It's on the back wall next to the conservatory.

Then we can Junior-Birdman the hell out of this system.

[Qumefox]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

I think it's moot considering that the most likely outcome is that humanity makes the planet unable to sustain life within the next 250 years. Much less a billion.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

What will happen to money?

Will love sustain it

[rcxb]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

Being inside of the star's envelope might be a bigger problem

Last I heard, Earth's orbit orbit will expand, keeping it just beyond being consumed. That said, a hot rock stripped of all atmosphere and water won't be a place you'd enjoy going on holiday.

However, the only way we won't be able to figure out a gravity tractor to tow the Earth out to a wider orbit in a billion years is if we're gone by then... whether all turned to dust, or having found more enticing rocks to live on.

[Jimmy2Cows]

Re: That said...

...a hot rock stripped of all atmosphere and water won't be a place you'd enjoy going on holiday.

I dunno. Sounds like a dry day in Benidorm.

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

Yes, our sun will become a red giant.

But, *ahem* Proxima is a red dwarf (a K dwarf). A vast difference. Principally, our sun won't employ Chris Barrie, Crag Charles, Danny John-Jules and Robert Llewellyn.

[Reg Reader 1]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

well, that is too bad!

[ThatOne]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

Wrong end of the scale: It's actually a red dwarf, not giant... But I agree with the idea, crap happens, and not only to others...

Edit: Oops, was too slow

[Mike 137]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

Very likely Pascal, except that amoebas don't have tentacles, they have pseudopods.

[Paul Kinsler]

Re: amoebas don't have tentacles, they have pseudopods.

I think a highly advanced and technologically proficient species - whether of amoeboid type or not - will just give itself any damn sort of appendage it wants to have. :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: amoebas don't have tentacles, they have pseudopods.

You mean as we all together append Boris Johnson to sort out our problems?

[Jimmy2Cows]

Re: amoebas don't have tentacles, they have pseudopods.

will just give itself any damn sort of appendage it wants to have. :-)

Will said appendages be... noodley...?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

> amoebas don't have tentacles, they have pseudopods.

That's just your opinion, they think we have pseudotentacles

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

The bigger they are, the harder they fall... live fast, die young, and leave an attractive body.

Works just as well for main sequence stars as it did for James Dean.

[Danny Boyd]

Re: Proxima Centauri is a glimpse of our own future

At a public lecture on astronomy.

Lector: "In approximately six billion years our sun will transition to a red giant phase..."

A gentleman from the audience: "Excuse me, in how many years you said?"

Lector: "Approximately six billion years."

A gentleman from the audience (looking much relieved): "Uff, thank God! I thought you said in six million years."

[ThatOne]

> it would have to look very different than anything on Earth

Without an atmosphere, it definitely would...

Now it's not like we didn't know that red dwarfs ("mass challenged stars"?) are prone to violent flares which would tend to sterilize their planets. But life could survive simple UV flares, for instance deep under water. They could even be beneficial, for instance triggering a plankton bloom in depths which normally don't get enough light. So the only question is, are those flares really able to strip atmospheres? No atmosphere means no liquid water, and the whole "Goldilocks Zone" thing falls apart: Without an atmosphere those planets would be as dead as our moon.

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

"So the only question is, are those flares really able to strip atmospheres?"

And for an answer to that, let's turn to Mercury! So Mr Mercury, are you a great place to party? Do molecules feel completely uninhibited and fling off their electrons like they're going out of fashion...?

*tumbleweed*

Seriously, these K dwarfs are so dim that their habitable zone abut their coronas. (Proxima Centauri is a thousandth the luminosity of the sun.) These flares will be in the face of any planet. And being that close to a more modest sun is still lethal. Mercury is a bit small, I grant (half the mass of mars) but I don't imagine a heavier planet would have seen much of a difference.

And if a planet round a K dwarf has hung onto some air, it's certainly a hellish place because the planet is guaranteed to be phase locked.

K dwarfs are a non starter for life.

[Anonymous Coward]

Proxima Centauri is actually an M-class dwarf star, not a K-class. M dwarfs suffer violent flares because convection extends all the way to the hydrogen fusing core. Alpha Centauri B is a K-class dwarf, and is pretty quiet. K class stars have smaller cores and less UV/X-ray radiation than G class stars, and are good candidates for Earth like planets.

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

OBAFGKM

You're right. Sorry.

M dwarfs were even lower down my list...

[RegGuy1]

Re: OBAFGKM

Wow! Oh be a fine girl kiss me right now sweetie!

[Disgusted Of Tunbridge Wells]

So it's like stepping off the plane in Greece?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

No this is even worse than Australia

[Anonymous Coward]

What? You mean like my gran's living room?

[Disgusted Of Tunbridge Wells]

All five bars?

WHAT? LET ME TURN THIS TV DOWN

[Timbo]

Graphic used?

It's a shame that the graphic image shown, has been used for this article, as the "belch" was NOT in the visible wavelength (as seen by humans - another lifeform MIGHT have seen it, if they were looking in the right direction during the 7 seconds that the "belch" was occuring).

So, it is unlikely that any life near to the star would have seen anything at all, though they might have experienced a warming sensation, before they were roasted to a crisp... :-(

[Anonymous Coward]

"A standard light bulb is 60 Watts"

Energy-saving LED or fluorescent bulbs are not yet standard in Boulder?

[Col_Panek]

Re: "A standard light bulb is 60 Watts"

Everyone has a box of incandescents in the cellar, in case they have a use. This is it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "A standard light bulb is 60 Watts"

> "A standard light bulb is 60 Watts, so that's comparable to a whopping 10^21 light bulbs." [vs 10^23]

Surely this calculation is done on the assumption that it's a 100 watt bulb?

Shouldn't it be 16.6'^21 bulbs?

[teknopaul]

"An illustration of the Proxima Centauri flare."

Possibly last remaining acceptable use of photoshop 5's lens flare effect.

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

Was JJ Abrams involved?

[Jimmy2Cows]

Nowhere near enough lens flare for JJ.

[MJI]

Guess what tune is going through my head?

Can't stop humming it

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Guess what tune is going through my head?

something by Disaster Area?

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

Re: Guess what tune is going through my head?

It's cold outside

There's no kind of atmosphere ...

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: Guess what tune is going through my head?

I sing that every time there's a cold snap in Alberta (-X0 or lower) & someone says it's cold outside.

[AJames]

Exactly the subject of the novel "The Three-Body Problem"

"The Three-Body Problem" is the first of an award-winning science fiction series of 3 novels by Chinese author Liu Cixin (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(novel)

The premise is that the characteristics of the triple-star Centauri system are inimical to the development of native intelligent life because of the frequent scouring of the planets by intense radiation flares. But what if that caused life there to develop faster and tougher than humanity on Earth? And what if those aliens decided that Earth was a much nicer and more habitable planet handily located at their nearest neighbouring star?

[jonfr]

Red dwarf systems are always dead

Red Dwarf systems are always dead because they are too cold. However there is possibly life around one or both stars in the Alpha Centauri A/B systems based on the mysterious and unexplained signal from the direction of Proxima Centauri at 982.002Mhz (known as BLC1). There have been no other explanation that point to the radio signal to be Earth created since it didn't move as any nearby object would have moved. Scientists are as always busying denying that this might even be a slight possibility that this signal is not from Earth. The radio signal was detected several times over a time period of 30 hours. While confirmation is good it is a bit difficult to get that with random signals that are detected on Earth by random chance.

Its going to be a long while until we accept the fact that the human race is not a lone in the universe. This is true even if claims otherwise are being told in the media and by scientists.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Red dwarf systems are always dead

prove it - simply prove it. While I don't believe we are the only sentient life in the Universe, getting proof of that is a lot harder than putting on foil hat hair and declaring a great conspiracy.

[jonfr]

Re: Red dwarf systems are always dead

The owner of the study refuses to release the data for everyone to look at (I've not read anything suggesting the data is pubic for now). The signal was detected in a study funded by a billionaire and I think he might be Russian or something. The project is called Breakthrough Listen Initiative. Here is their website, https://breakthroughinitiatives.org | The Wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Listen

I wish I would be able afford several 30 meters radio telescopes around the world. But I am nothing but a poor man so that is never going to happen.

[Ken Hagan]

Re: Red dwarf systems are always dead

So there's no public evidence that this signal was ever detected. Hmm...

[Primus Secundus Tertius]

Insignificant flare

The Earth is at 1.5 x 10^8 km from the sun. The area of a sphere of this radius is 2.6 x 10^23 square metres. So 10^23 Watts from the flare is about 0.4W per square metre. The full-on perpendicular energy of normal sunlight is 1.4KW per square metre.

So the energy of such a flare would not be noticed on planet Earth.

[Anonymous Coward]

You're assuming that the flare energy is isotropic, but they are more usually directed, more like a 'beam'.

[Primus Secundus Tertius]

In which case, it probably missed any planet.

[Martin Howe]

I wonder anyone sought a place of safety in the sky, and if so, did their fathers know? :)

[Danny Boyd]

"UV radiation from flares like this could strip away the planet's atmosphere, and damage the DNA of lifeforms on the surface" - stripping away the atmosfere is quite enough, thank you. Damage to DNA of [dead by then] lifeforms on the surface is nice but not necessary.