Only ten percent of the stars that the researchers studied were capable of emitting Superflares.
A team of scientists from the University of Aarhus tried to find out whether or not Earth could be destroyed by a Superflare. The results were satisfying, the researchers finding the possibility of such an event happening being “highly unlikely.”
The study that was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications revealed that Earth could be destroyed by a Superflare only if our sun decides to act out, and the possibilities of that happening are extremely low.
This is not the first time when the Superflare theory emerged. Science fiction novels and movies explored the idea for centuries now, ever since the Carrington event.
Solar flares happen when the sun’s magnetic fields collapse. The resulting charged particles clouds are then dispersed into space, some finding their way towards Earth. The solar flares that our sun is capable of emitting pose no danger to life on Earth.
But they can interfere with telecommunications and technology, which for a great part of our world would mean chaos.
The team that studied the Superflare phenomenon on other stars from our galaxy declared that the exact trigger of the event still eludes them. But it seems that if our sun ever decides to act out, Earth could be destroyed by a Superflare taking the satellites grid along the way.
According to the Aarhus University researchers, if our sun produces a Superflare, life on the planet would be considerably affected. We would lose our entire satellite grid and the protective ozone layer from our atmosphere. Without that protection, the cosmic radiations would kill life on Earth before the Oceans would get a chance to evaporate completely.
But the team said that the chances of such a thing happening are “highly unlikely.” The biggest solar flare that humankind witnessed was the 1859 Carrington Event.
Even though the technological infrastructure wasn’t much at the time, the solar flare that was discovered by an amateur astronomer, Richard Carrington, affected every piece of technology and all sorts of communications for a couple of days.
Unfortunately, the equipment that the astronomers had at the time did not allow any precise recording. But they did write about the effects of the solar storm. It seems that, apart from communications mayhem, people from different locations around the world were able to see a bright aurora and Greenland’s ice records showed that the ozone layer was damaged.
Even though scientists said that the possibilities of such an event happening are highly unlikely, Earth could be destroyed by a Superflare if our sun decides to act up.
Image source: Wikimedia
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