The sun can erupt with flares more energetic than 30 billion times the yield of all nuclear weapons ever detonated. The energetic particles released by solar flares tunnel a path through our inner solar system with speeds regularly exceeding 6 million kph (about 3.7 million mph). If the Earth is unfortunate enough to sweep through the path of these particles, they can cause catastrophic problems by acting like bullets of radiation, damaging electrical and electronic equipment.
Experts have warned that even a single monster solar flare could cause up to U.S.$2 trillion worth of damage on Earth. This could include the loss of communication and navigation satellites and electricity grids. Dangers to human life and health could follow.
With this in mind, it is no wonder space weather has now been added as one of the greatest dangers to life on Earth in the U.K.’s national risk register, only fractionally behind terrorist attacks. It’s paramount that we study the behavior of the sun so we can create an early-warning system to alert of us impending danger from this kind of space weather.
Destructive Solar Flares
