Tomasz Nowakowski is a writer for Phys.org.
An international team of astronomer have detected radio flares on a dwarf star using a radio telescope. A paper published April 7 on the pre-print server arXiv.org could advance our understanding of flaring behavior of M dwarfs.
Astronomers have observed flares from cool dwarfs. M-type and ultracool stars can have high levels of magnetic activity. Researchers are interested in detecting new flare activity because they want to know the properties of magnetic dynamos and interiors of stars.
The M dwarf star SCR 1746 is 39 light years away from the Earth and has been found to have activity. A new radio Transient event was discovered by analyzing the black hole X-ray images. The M dwarf was identified as having further radio flaring activity after a multi-wavelength investigation.
A new radio Transient was identified by analysis of the sky surrounding H1743 and the high proper motion star SCR 1746. The researchers wrote in the paper that the radio flaring was detected three times over 11 epochs of data.
The observations show that SCR 1746 showcases clear stellar flares. The M dwarf's flaring activity is consistent with emission from the dMe stars. The dMe stars are late-type dwarfs with hydrogen emission lines.
The campaign confirmed that SCR 1746 is a mid-late M dwarf with clear magnetic activity. It was found that the star has a rotation period of 0.23 days, which is comparable to other low-mass systems.
The researchers noted that the M dwarf has a radius of 0.146 and a mass of 0.12. The star's temperature is estimated to be 2,900 K.
The researchers noted that their study marks the second time that they have been able to discover a radio Transient by chance. The current generation of radio telescopes have unique capabilities.
The value of simultaneous observations by optical facilities and the ability of the current generation of radio interferometers make it a prime demonstration of both.
Further studies of SCR 1746 could help us understand space weather around M dwarfs. This is important to determine the habitability of potential exoplanets.
More information: Serendipitous discovery of radio flaring behaviour from a nearby M dwarf with MeerKAT, arXiv:2204.03481 [astro-ph.SR] arxiv.org/abs/2204.03481The Science X Network will be launched in 2022.
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