The sun could unleash a rare superflare towards our planet in the next 100 years, experts have warned.
A superflare is a huge burst of energy ejected from a star, for reasons that scientists still don’t understand.
Until recently, experts assumed that such events only occurred on young stars, and not on our Sun.
However, a new study by researchers from CU Boulder has revealed that super flares do occur from our Sun - and one could be unleashed ‘in the next 100 years.’
Yuta Notsu, who led the study, said: “Our study shows that superflares are rare events. But there is some possibility that we could experience such an event in the next 100 years or so.”
Worryingly, if a superflare erupted from the sun, Earth would be directly in the path of a wave of high-energy radiation.
This could disrupt electronics across the globe, causing widespread black outs and knocking out communication satellites.
While normal-sized flares are common on the sun, data from the Kepler Space Telescope revealed the superflares sometimes occur too.
Mr Notsu said: “When our sun was young, it was very active because it rotated very fast and probably generated more powerful flares. But we didn’t know if such large flares occur on the modern sun with very low frequency.”
Based on the findings, the researchers suggest that humans should prepare for such an event by protecting electronics on the ground and in orbit from radiation.
Mr Notsu added: “If a superflare occurred 1,000 years ago, it was probably no big problem. People may have seen a large aurora. Now, it’s a much bigger problem because of our electronics.”
