One of the most important events in Greg Egan's novel Diaspora happens when a pair of neutron stars in the constellation Lacerta collide, sending out a powerful gamma ray burst and causing the extinction of most life on Earth. I was reminded of that while reading, earlier today, about an unassuming, small red dwarf star in that constellation sending out a massive flare, thousands of times more strong than the ones our Sun sends out every now and then.
There's no risk to us, of course, and Phil Plait does a much better job than I would be able to of telling the whole story; go there, it's an excellent read.
Still, that's one more way the universe can kill us all... (and I guess I'll go reread Greg Egan's novels...)
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