Optical Spectroscopy of a Flare on Barnard’s Star

ABSTRACT We present optical spectra of a flare on Barnard’s star. Several photospheric and chromospheric species were enhanced by the flare heating. An analysis of the Balmer lines shows that their shapes are best explained by Stark broadening rather than chromospheric mass motions. We estimate the temperature of the flaring region in the lower atmosphere to be ≥8000 K and the electron density to be ∼1014 cm−3, similar to values observed in other dM flares. Because Barnard’s star is considered to be one of our oldest neighbors, a flare of this magnitude is probably quite rare.