• Weathering a Stellar Temper Tantrum: How space weather complicates exoplanet habitability byNathan Whitsett| Feb 16, 2026 |Daily Paper Summaries|0 comments Title:Detection of a giant flare displaying quasi-periodic pulsations from a pre-main-sequence M star by the Next Generation Transit Survey Authors:J. • West First Author’s Institution:University of Warwick Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, Coventry, England Status:Accepted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society [openaccess] If you live above 40° north latitude, you may have seen a colorful aurora during the February and November solar storms. • Our Sun produces intense, high-energy bursts called solar flares. • Occasionally, these flares are accompanied bycoronal mass ejections(CMEs), large masses of plasma ejected from the flare location. • If the CME collides with Earth, the ions in the ejected plasma can produce vibrant auroral lights, which you may have seen in images on the news or on social media. • Although solar storms can disrupt satellites and electronics, the rarity of extreme flares means they pose no existential threat to life on Earth.

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  • Authors: J. Jackman, P. Wheatley, C. Pugh, D. Kolotkov, A. Broomhall, G. Kennedy, S. Murphy, R. Raddi, M. Burleigh, S. Caswell, P. Eigmueller, E. Gillen, M. Guenther, J. Jenkins, T. Louden, J. McCormac, L. Raynard, K. Poppenhaeger, S. Udry, C. Watson, R. West First Author’s Institution: University of Warwick Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, Coventry, England Status: Accepted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society [open access] If you live above 40° north latitude, you may have seen a colorful aurora during the February and November solar storms. Our Sun produces intense, h

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