2
$\begingroup$

I'm very new at Astronomy, and my knowledge is sparse. I've tried to be conscientious about my Wikipedia research but there's going to be a lot of things I don't know. Thanks for your patience.

BACKGROUND

I had read that hot Jupiters can cause superflares due to magnetic recombination. But checking Wikipedia I came across the following:

Not all planetary transits can be detected by Kepler, since the planetary > orbit may be out of the line of sight to Earth. However, the hot Jupiters > orbit so close to the primary that the chance of a transit is about 10%. > If superflares were caused by close planets the 279 flare stars discovered should have about 28 transiting companions; none of them actually showed evidence of transits, effectively excluding this explanation.

- Wikipedia

QUESTION

Given this, and among modern astronomers in general, is the theory that hot Jupiters can cause superflares on the outs? Or is the article just saying that hot Jupiters can't explain these particular stars, while the model remains valid elsewhere? Do we have any solid evidence of a gas giant causing solar flares, super or otherwise?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Could you post your reference that hot Jupiters can cause superflares due to magnetic recombination? Was it pre kepler or post kepler? $\endgroup$
    – userLTK
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 4:37
  • $\begingroup$ The title of your question is unclear. There are no hot Jupiters in the solar system so they cannot cause solar flares. If you mean stellar flares then please be clear about whether you mean only the so-called superflares or flares of a more modest nature. There certainly have been claims for the latter. $\endgroup$
    – ProfRob
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 7:11

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2
$\begingroup$

Just going off the Wikipedia article you posted, it says the hot jupiter superflare theory was abandoned.

The flares were initially explained by postulating giant planets in very close orbits, such that the magnetic fields of the star and planet were linked. The orbit of the planet would warp the field lines until the instability released magnetic field energy as a flare. However, no such planet has showed up as a Kepler transit and this theory has been abandoned.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
$\begingroup$

Sun is more than one thousand times the mass of Jupiter, so it seems unlikely that even a very close approach by a "hot Jupiter" to its host star would cause a flare, and especially not a superflare.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ I am not sure, what would happen if Jupiter would be much more near to the Sun. It has a strong magnetic field, and the plasma in the outer athmosphere of the Sun is a chaotic thing. (Ok, the source of this magnetic field, as far I know, is a layer of metallic hydrogen, but the Jupiter would close to the Sun, it would be evaporated long ago, leaving only a molten silicate core.) $\endgroup$
    – peterh
    Commented Feb 23, 2018 at 3:24
  • $\begingroup$ Many but not all flare stars are small stars compared to our sun, and some hot Jupiters are more massive than our Jupiter, so you can have mass ratios much closer than 1000 to 1. Even so, you're probably right, at least, Kepler backs your statement up, It's worth adding that there's still a lot we don't know about close orbit hot Jupiters. Our telescopes can't get a close enough took. $\endgroup$
    – userLTK
    Commented Feb 23, 2018 at 3:43

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .