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Article: ON THE TRAIL OF SOLAR FLARES SCIENTISTS TEAM UP TO STUDY PHENOMENA THAT TRIGGER THE SUN'S MAGNETIC STORMS
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- October 3, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1988 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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As they scanned the sun's bright disk through telescopes last
June, California astronomers saw new, dark sunspots welling up in a
region of old ones. To their experienced eyes, the sight signalled
a restlessness that often precedes sudden solar violence.
Sure enough, a couple of days later, on June 24, astronomer
Harold Zirin of the California Institute of Technology watched the
area get "brighter and brighter, and then suddenly a lot brighter."
"I ran downstairs to my computer and put out an alert," he
said, advising astronomers elsewhere that a solar flare had erupted.
The mysterious origin of solar flares -- huge, short-lived
outbursts of matter and energy from the sun's ...