Einstein Probe detects an X-ray flare from nearby star

martinpw 1/3/2026|

This threw me at first. There was an NASA X-ray imaging telescope in the late 70s/early 80s called Einstein:

https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/einstein/heao2.html

But this is a new Chinese instrument, also an X-ray telescope, also called Einstein:

https://ep.bao.ac.cn/ep/

xioxox 1/3/2026||

Pedantically, it's Einstein Probe (EP), not Einstein. Confusingly, in Chinese it has another name, Tianguan, commemorating the observation of the supernova which created the Crab Nebula.

NoiseBert69 1/3/2026||

Chinese + ESA contributions

xioxox 1/3/2026||

China + ESA + Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) + Centro Nacional de Estudios Espaciales (CNES) contributions

gammarator 1/3/2026||

This is not very newsworthy, stellar flares are common and known to emit X-rays.

aussieguy1234 1/3/2026||

If measured the way we measure solar flares (M1, X1 etc) what would this one be rated as?

wglb 1/3/2026||

Article in https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16679

ralfhn 1/3/2026|

For a second I was really confused about what Epstein had to do with x-rays

justarandomname 1/3/2026|

SAME, I thought there was a bit flip in the files or something.