Free Astronomy Magazine July-August 2023

38 JULY-AUGUST 2023 ASTRO PUBLISHING Superflare with massive, high-velocity prominence eruption by National Astronomical Observatory of Japan S ome stars have been seen re- leasing superflares over 10 times larger than the largest solar flare ever seen on the Sun. The hot ionized gas released by solar flares can influence the environ- ment around the Earth, referred to as space weather. More powerful superflares must have an even greater impact on the evolution of any planets forming around the star, or the evolution of any life forming on those planets. But the details of how superflares and prominence eruptions on stars occur have been unclear. Recently, a team led by Shun Inoue at Kyoto University used the 3.8-m Seimei Telescope in Japan and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to monitor the binary star sys- tem V1355 Orionis which is known to frequently release large-scale su- perflares. V1355 Orionis is located 400 light years away in the constel- lation Orion.