NASA - Galaxy Evolution Explorer

NASA Telescope Catches Surprise Ultraviolet Light Show 05.31.05 It was a day like any other for a nearby star named GJ 3685A ? until it suddenly exploded with light. At 2 p.m. Pacific time on April 24, 2004, the detectors on NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer ultraviolet space telescope nearly overloaded when the star abruptly brightened by a factor of at least 10,000. After the excitement was over, astronomers realized that they had just recorded a giant star eruption, or flare, about one million times more energetic than those from our Sun. Findings on this intriguing event were presented today at the 206th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Minneapolis, Minn. Movies based on images of the flare are available online at http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/missions/galex.html and http://www.galex.caltech.edu/.