Using the European Space Agency’s Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS) telescope, a team of astronomers has discovered an exoplanet that may be triggering its host star to release massive flares of radiation. These flares are similar to the coronal mass ejection our Sun produces, and the harsh radiation emitted from the flares is slowly blowing away the exoplanet’s atmosphere.
While scientists have predicted this phenomenon for decades, this is the first evidence of an exoplanet triggering flares. Interestingly, the flares observed by CHEOPS are 100 times more energetic than scientists predicted they would be.