Dragon star shoots off huge solar storm; scientists worry about fate of Earth

Sun, Earth, Stars, Solar system and the entire Universe not only excites the scientists and researchers but the common man too. There are so many exciting things happening and researchers are being kept busy to find out and understand the complexity of the Universe as well as to alert everyone about the approaching threats that can destroy humanity. According to a latest update, scientists are worried over the destructive burst of radiation that erupted from a Dragon star 100 light-years away. Experts say that if a similar destructive solar storm is fired towards the Earth by our Sun, it will send mankind back to the Dark Ages.

The solar storm, of similar magnitude as the one shot off by the Dragon star, if it was fired from our Sun would cause immense destruction. It would fry satellites in orbit and crash power grids serving cities – causing widespread blackouts. The coronal mass ejection would also knock out phone networks and the internet too. "According to a study published this week, a stellar eruption was spotted by researchers for the first time in a nearby stellar system. The star it emerged from is named EK Draconis - Latin for "dragon". It lies in the constellation of Draco in the far northern sky. Astronomers described the spectacular fireworks show as "troubling" – warning a similar event could hit Earth within the next century," according to a report by The Sun.

It should be noted that the Sun shoots out such eruptions on a regular basis and is known as a CME (coronal mass ejection). What exactly is CME?

According to NASA, the outer atmosphere of the Sun, the corona, is structured by strong magnetic fields. Where these fields are closed, often above sunspot groups, the confined solar atmosphere can suddenly and violently release bubbles of gas and magnetic fields called coronal mass ejections. A large CME can contain a billion tons of matter that can be accelerated to several million miles per hour in a spectacular explosion. Solar material streams out through the interplanetary medium, impacting any planet or spacecraft in its path. CMEs are sometimes associated with flares but can occur independently.

Every 100 years or so, a major CME is released in our direction. According to study co-author Dr Yuta Notsu, of the University of Colorado Boulder, "Coronal mass ejections can have a serious impact on Earth and human society."

The international team used ground and space-based telescopes to observe the huge burst of energy pouring out of EK Draconis, the Dragon star. "It emitted a mass of scorching plasma in the quadrillions of kilograms - over ten times bigger than the previous record from a sun-like star," the report said.

Experts fear that a catastrophic solar storm, driven by our Sun, could hit us by the end of the century. Study leader Kosuke Namekata, a PhD student at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, said it could be just as strong while Dr Notsu said, "It may serve as a warning of just how dangerous the weather in space can be," as quoted by The Sun.

Dr Notsu further described EK Draconis as a "curious star". It is about the same size as the sun - but just 100 million years old. He said, "It is what our sun looked like 4.5 billion years ago," The Sun quoted him as saying.