A Proof-of-Concept Technique for Detection of Stellar Eruptive Prominences in Photometric Observations Using Insights from Solar EUV Data in He II 304 Å

Abstract Stellar eruptive prominences are one of the key components shaping stellar space weather environments. Moreover, due to the association of eruptive prominences with coronal mass ejections and their degrading influence on planetary atmospheres, they play a crucial role in the habitability of exoplanets. In this article, we used the insights from solar extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) observations to develop and test a technique for the detection of stellar eruptive prominences. We focused on the EUV imaging observations of the entire Sun provided by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in the 304 Å channel. For this proof-of-concept study, we selected only a few examples of solar eruptive prominences and minor solar flares and analysed them in the Sun-as-a-star mode that mimics the stellar EUV photospheric observations. To validate the results obtained from the SDO/AIA Sun-as-a-star analysis, we used the SDO/Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) irradiance measurements. Our analysis showed markable intensity enhancements in the SDO/AIA 304 Å light curves during the prominence eruptions, with intensity increasing gradually for tens of minutes to several hours with enhancements of up to 1.5%. Flares exhibited a significantly faster intensity increase phase (a few minutes long) leading to large enhancements in the 304 Å channel of up to 8%. The large difference in the duration of the 304 Å intensity rise phases suggests that EUV stellar photometry in the He ii 304 Å line can provide signatures clearly attributable to stellar prominence eruptions or flares. However, development of robust techniques for detection of stellar eruptive prominences using the insights from EUV solar observations will require significantly broader statistical analyses that are beyond the scope of this work.