A strong solar storm emanating from a young Sun-like star has been directly observed by astronomers, providing clues about the potential chemistry of life. An international team led by Kosuke Namakata of Kyoto University used the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories to record a giant stellar explosion, a coronal mass ejection (CME), from the star EK Draconis. This powerful, two-stage explosion contained enough energy to induce chemical reactions in a planet’s atmosphere, producing greenhouse gases and organic molecules.

Observation of the explosion of a young star According to research, EK Draconis (age ~50-125 million years) is a young Sun-like star about 111 light years away. Scientists have been able to observe it in ultraviolet and visible light using the Hubble and ground-based telescopes.

They printed a two-stage CME, with an initial burst of hot plasma (~100,000 K) released at 300–550 km/s, followed about 10 minutes later by a cooler gas (~10,000 K) released at about 70 km/s. The cooler plasma consumed much less energy than the hotter plasma. Impact on planetary life These intense explosions have the potential to dramatically alter planets in an instant.

Molecules in the atmosphere can be broken down by particles from stellar storms and rebuilt into complex organisms. Indeed, according to Nemkata’s team, strong CMEs have the potential to trigger biomolecules and greenhouse gases, which form some of the primary components of life.

This implies that storms from the young Sun may have aided the emergence of life on ancient Earth, and indicates that these eruptions on exoplanets may have increased their hospitality capacity.