Astronomers uncover the engine behind the most powerful stellar flares in the Kepler field

Astronomers uncover the engine behind the most powerful stellar flares in the Kepler field

A new study led by researchers at the Konkoly Observatory of the HUN-REN Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences (HUN-REN CSFK) in Budapest has revealed what makes a distant red giant star the most explosively active in the entire Kepler field—and the answer lies in a surprisingly subtle interplay between a close stellar companion, vast dark starspots and a highly efficient internal magnetic dynamo.