Life Of Navin

A tiny star named EV Lacertae recently unleashed what is considered the brightest burst of light ever seen in the universe from a normal star, astronomers announced today.

Shining with only 1 percent of the sun's light and possessing just a third of the sun's mass, the star previously was nothing to special about it. However on April 25, the red dwarf star, unleashed a mega-flare, packing the power of thousands of solar flares. Since the star is located 16 lya, the Super-super flare actually occurred 16 years ago.

The flare was first seen by the Russian-built Konus instrument on NASA's Wind satellite in the early morning hours of April 25. Two minutes later, Swift's X-ray Telescope caught the flare. The star remained bright in X-rays for eight whole hours before settling back to normal.

Lacertae's constellation, Lacerta, is visible in the spring for only a few hours each night in the Northern Hemisphere.

This is not the first time that this star has shown a flare but it was a treat for scientists this time.

Giant flares like this one are similar to solar flares, but stellar flares are hundreds and sometimes thousands of times more powerful. The extra power likely comes from the stars' magnetic fields. For instance, EV Lacertae rotates in a four day cycle, much faster than the sun's four-week rotation. The star's quick rotation generates stronger localized magnetic fields (Much Much Stronger) , about 100 times as powerful as the sun's.

"These flares are ultimately related to the twisting and tangling of magnetic fields that are poking out of the surface of the star, and stars like it," said

EV Lacertae is covered in spots, which move around during outbursts and rearrange themselves during the course of a flare. The spots on the star cover a much larger fraction of the surface than they do on the sun, so the resulting change of the spots would be even more dramatic.

Since EV Lacertae is 15 times younger than the sun, it provides a window into our solar system's early history, scientists say. Younger stars rotate faster and generate more powerful flares. Scientists claim that in its first billion years, the sun too must have let loose millions of energetic flares that would have profoundly affected formation of the planets.

Here's a small, cool star that shot off a monster flare --Rachel Osten,Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt