On Halloween, solar flares erupted almost simultaneously on opposite sides of the sun?a phenomenon that?s never been seen before. Simultaneous solar flares have been seen in the past, but they’re usually clustered together, and scientists want to know if the flares are linked or if this is just a coincidence. “Now we have only one example of two flares that go off simultaneously that far apart, so it could be an accident. If we see more of these?then it becomes extremely important,” says astronomer Stephen Greggor. These flares can make space travel hazardous.
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