Free Astronomy Magazine January-February 2026

46 ASTRO PUBLISHING JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 A stronomers using the Euro- pean Space Agency’s XMM- Newton space observatory and the LOFAR telescope have de- finitively spotted an explosive burst of material thrown out into space by another star – a burst powerful enough to strip away the atmos- phere of any unlucky planet in its path. The burst was a coronal mass ejection (CME), eruptions we often see coming from the Sun. During a CME, massive amounts of material are flung out from our star, flooding the surrounding space. These dra- First confirmed sighting of explosive burst on nearby star by ESA A n artist’s impression of a red dwarf star releasing a bright, explosive burst of light. Swirling red and orange patterns surround the star, suggesting intense activity. In the background, a smaller blue planet appears with a faint, wispy trail extending away from it, indicating its atmosphere being blown off. [Olena Shmahalo/Callingham et al.] matic expulsions shape and drive space weather, such as the dazzling auroras we see on Earth, and can chip away at the atmospheres of any nearby planets. But while CMEs are commonplace at the Sun, we hadn’t convincingly spotted one on another star – until now. “As- tronomers have wanted to spot a CME on another star for decades,” says Joe Callingham of the Nether- lands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), author of the new re- search published in Nature . “Previ- ous findings have inferred that they exist, or hinted at their presence, but haven’t actually confirmed that material has definitively escaped