Short-duration high-amplitude flares detected on the M dwarf star KIC 5474065

: Ramsay Gavin, Doyle J Gerry, Hakala Pasi, Garcia-Alvarez David, Brooks Adam, Barclay Thomas, Still Martin

Publisher: Oxford University Press

: 2013

: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

: MNRAS

: 3

: 434

: 3

: 2451

: 2457

: 7

: 0035-8711

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt1182

Using data obtained during the RATS-Kepler project, we identified one short-duration flare in a 1 h sequence of ground-based photometry of the dwarf star KIC 5474065. Observations made using Gran Telescopio Canarias show that it is a star with an M4V spectral type. Kepler observations made using 1 min sampling show that KIC 5474065 exhibits large-amplitude (δF/F > 0.4) optical flares which have a duration as short as 10 min. We compare the energy distribution of flares from KIC 5474065 with that of KIC 9726699, which has also been observed using 1-min sampling, and ground-based observations of other M dwarf stars in the literature. We discuss the possible implications these short-duration, relatively low-energy flares would have on the atmosphere of exoplanets orbiting in the habitable zone of these flare stars.