Red dwarf binary stellar flare, illustration. The flare seen at centre is occurring on the surface of one of the stars of a binary star system. The other red dwarf star is at upper left (red). The system is called DG CVn, and the flares were observed by NASA's Swift gamma-ray telescope (which can also observe in the X-ray and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum). The observations were made on 23 April 2017, with the energy emitted being as much as 10,000 times more powerful than the largest solar flare ever recorded. DG CVn is around 59 light years from Earth, in the constellation of Canes Venatici.