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Article: A record-breaking star with flare. (binary star V711 produces flare)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- June 15, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The binary star V711 Tau, about 100 light-years from Earth, belongs to a class of binaries that have relatively high magnetic fields. Noting that the sun and other magnetically active stars produce flares with the sudden release of stored magnetic energy, researchers reasoned that sooner or later, V711 Tau might erupt. But after 15 years of study -- the last eight with a robotic telescope on Arizona's Mount Hopkins -- astronomers found no evidence that this star or any of the other 110 binaries in the same class that the observed had ever undergone such sudden brightening.
V711 Tau's status changed irrevocably on Dec. 14, 1989. Astronomers at the Beijing (China) ...