January 2, 2026
Comments outshine the star
Einstein Probe detects an X-ray flare from nearby star
Cool star flare, hotter fight over whether this is news—and which “Einstein” did it
TLDR: China’s Einstein Probe caught a quick X-ray flare from a nearby star, proving the new telescope can spot everyday stellar outbursts. Commenters bickered over whether that’s newsworthy and got tangled in “old NASA Einstein vs new Chinese Einstein” confusion—with jokes and facepalms lighting up the thread.
Astronomers spotted a quick X-ray outburst from a nearby star—thanks to China’s new Einstein Probe—and the internet promptly… flared up. The science is straightforward: a small, 2-hour magnetic temper tantrum from a K-type star about 150 light-years away, seen as a fast rise and slow fade. But the comment section? Absolute supernova. One camp rolled their eyes, with skeptics calling it “not news” because stars do this all the time. Another group argued the real story is that the freshly launched Einstein Probe is already catching nearby fireworks, a big win for tracking “space weather” that can blast planets.
Then came the identity crisis. Veterans remembered NASA’s old “Einstein” X-ray mission from the ’70s and had to clarify that this is a different, modern Chinese telescope with the same name. Cue the wordplay avalanche—someone even mixed up “Einstein” with “Epstein” and the thread melted down in giggles and facepalms. Meanwhile, a helpful soul dropped the paper link and another shared the classic NASA page for the vintage Einstein Observatory to calm the chaos.
Bottom line: the flare itself is textbook, but the community drama—“Is this news?” vs “New telescope flex!” plus the name-mix hysteria—was the real explosion.
Key Points
- •Einstein Probe detected an X-ray transient from the nearby K-type star PM J23221-0301 (~150.7 ly).
- •The event, designated EP J2322.1-0301, was observed on September 27, 2024, and reported on arXiv on December 18 (DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2512.16679).
- •Multiwavelength evidence (spatial coincidence within 20″, FRED light curve, transient H-alpha emission, energetics) identifies it as a stellar flare.
- •The flare lasted ~2 hours with a ~0.4-hour rise and ~1.6-hour decay; timescales are typical for stellar flares.
- •Peak luminosity reached ~13 nonillion erg/s (0.5–4.0 keV), total energy ~91 decillion ergs; spectra indicate multitemperature plasma consistent with flare-loop models.