A regular solar flare.
Photo: NASA/LMSAL
Biggest flare: II Pegasi
II (not the roman number 2) Pegasi is a very narrow double star of two orange-red stars. On star A in December 2005 a flare occured, 100 million times stronger than a regular solar flare. It was the most powerful flare seen so far with an intensity of an ordinary nova.
Due to the mutual tidal forces both stars spin very rapidly, about four times faster than the Sun. This probably benefited the enormous flare.
Constellation: Pegasus
Distance: 138 light-years
Spectral class: K0
Visual magnitude: 7.37
Luminosity A + B: 1.59 * Sun
II Pegasi A
Mass: 0.8 * Sun
II Pegasi B
Mass: 0.4 * Sun
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