https://hackerpaper.kaipfister.de/p/1502.04655/Collected HN comments and submissions linking this paper.enMon, 02 Nov 2026 11:16:22 GMThttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9069224urn:hackerpapers:mention:1502.04655:9069224Wed, 18 Feb 2015 16:12:01 GMT<p>The article links to a paywalled source for the paper &quot;The Closest Known Flyby of a Star to the Solar System&quot; by Mamajek et al. Full text is freely available on arXiv at [1]. [1] http://arxiv.org/abs/1502.04655</p><p><a href="https://hackerpaper.kaipfister.de/p/1502.04655/">Paper and discussion history</a>. A mention is not an endorsement.</p>astro-ph.SRhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9069194urn:hackerpapers:mention:1502.04655:9069194Wed, 18 Feb 2015 16:06:56 GMT<p>The authors actually discuss this possibility in their paper. (Section 4 of [1].) The star is very faint (an M dwarf), so even at its nearest approach it would have been far too faint to be seen with the naked eye. However, M dwarfs do show occasional flares, so it is possible that it would have brightened to be visible to the naked eye for a few minutes to hours during a flare event. [1]: http://arxiv.org/abs/1502.04655</p><p><a href="https://hackerpaper.kaipfister.de/p/1502.04655/">Paper and discussion history</a>. A mention is not an endorsement.</p>astro-ph.SR