Solar-Like M-Class X-ray Flares on Proxima Centauri Observed by the ASCA Satellite
Bernhard Haisch 1,
A. Antunes 2, and
J. H. M. M. Schmitt 3
1 Lockheed Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, Division 91-30, Building 252, 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
2 Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, 229 Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa, Japan
3 Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, D-85740 Garching, Germany
Because of instrumental sensitivity limits and stellar distances, the types of x-ray flares observable on stars have been intrinsically much more energetic than those on the sun. Such enormous events are a useful extrapolation of the solar phenomenon if the underlying assumption is correct that they form a continuous sequence involving similar physical processes as on the sun. The Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA), with its greater sensitivity and high-energy response, is now able to test this hypothesis. Direct comparison with solar flares measured by the x-ray-monitoring Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) is possible. The detection of flares on Proxima Centauri that correspond to GOES M-class events on the sun are reported.
Submitted on November 21, 1994
Accepted on March 24, 1995
