We report on a population of short duration near-ultraviolet ( NUV ) flares in stars observed by the Kepler and GALEX missions .
We analyzed NUV light curves of 34,276 stars observed from 2009-2013 by both the GALEX ( NUV ) and Kepler ( optical ) space missions with the eventual goal of investigating multi-wavelength flares .
From the GALEX data we constructed light curves with a 10 second cadence , and ultimately detected 1,904 short duration flares on 1,021 stars .
The vast majority ( 94.5 % ) of these flares have durations less than five minutes , with flare flux enhancements above the quiescent flux level ranging from 1.5 to 1700 .
The flaring stars are primarily solar-like , with T _ { eff } ranging from 3,000-11,000 K and radii between 0.5-15 R _ { \odot } .
This set of flaring stars is almost entirely distinct from that of previous flare surveys of Kepler data and indicates a previously undetected collection of small flares contained within the Kepler sample .
The range in flare energies spans 1.8 \times 10 ^ { 32 } -8.9 \times 10 ^ { 37 } erg , with associated relative errors spanning 2-87 % .
The flare frequency distribution by energy follows a power-law with index \alpha = 1.72 \pm 0.05 , consistent with results of other solar and stellar flare studies at a range of wavelengths .
This supports the idea that the NUV flares we observe are governed by the same physical processes present in solar and optical flares .
The relationship between flare duration and associated flare energy extends results found for solar and stellar white-light flares , and suggests that these flares originate in regions with magnetic field strengths of several hundred Gauss , and length scales of order 10 ^ { 10 } cm .