Red Dwarf Star Proxima of Centauri - Proxima Centauri in X - Ray - Proxima...

Red Dwarf Star Proxima of Centauri - Proxima Centauri in X - Ray - Proxima of Centaur (in the center of the image) is the closest star to the Sun, at a distance of 4.2 years - light. It belongs to the triple Alpha star system of the Centaurus being the least bright star of this system; it is a red dwarf star. X-ray image obtained by the Chandra space telescope. Chandra and XMM - Newton observations of the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri have shown that its surface is in a state of turmoil. Flares, or explosive outbursts, occur almost continually. This behavior can be traced to Proxima Centauri's low mass, about a tenth that of the Sun. In the cores of low mass stars, nuclear fusion reactions that convert hydrogen to helium proceed very slowly, and create a turbulent, convective motion throughout their interiors. This motion stores up magnetic energy which is often released explosively in the star's upper atmosphere where it produces flares in X - rays and other forms of light. The same process produces X - rays on the Sun, but the magnetic energy is released in a less explosive manner through heating loops of gas, with occasional flares. The difference is due to the size of the convection zone, which in a more massive star such as the Sun, is smaller and closer to its surface. Red dwarfs are the most common type of star. They have masses between about 8% and 50% of the mass of the Sun. Though they are much dimmer than the Sun, they will shine for much longer - trillions of years in the case of Proxima Centauri, compared to the estimated 10 billion - year lifetime of the Sun. X - rays from Proxima Centauri are consistent with a point - like source. The extended X - ray glow is an instrumental effect. The nature of the two dots above the image is unknown - they could be background sources