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Letter: How do we avoid those superflares?

Published 15 June 2016

From David Copsey

Hiroyuki Maehera says 148 solar flares capable of eviscerating the atmosphere of a habitable planet have been observed among 83,000 “sun-like” stars over 120 days (21 May, p 31). That suggests such a star should, on average, experience one such flare every 184 years. Either we are very lucky, or our sun is different from the sample – and if so, how?

Brighton, East Sussex, UK

Issue no. 3078 published 18 June 2016

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