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He warned the planet is facing a repeat of the devastating solar superstorm of 1859 - dubbed the Carrington Event after English astronomer Richard Carrington.Carrington spotted a solar flare before terrifying fireballs hurtled across the atmosphere making people think it was the end of the world.Reports followed of sparks showering from telegraph machines, out of control fires and electrical operators being injured.Around 10^22 kJ of energy catapulted around a trillion kilos of charged particles towards the Earth at speeds of up to 1,900 miles per second........Its impact on civilised life was relatively small as there was less reliance on electronics, a similar event now would be nothing short of catastrophic.In the journal Physics World Mr Dale claims an event which will have a serious impact on the world is inevitable.NASA scientists say Carrington-level event happens every 150 years with the next one currently five years overdue.The likelihood of one occurring in the next decade is as high as 12 per cent, they added.
I wonder if the hardening designed to protect electronic systems from the EMP of a nuclear attack would also protect against natural phenomena like this. Even if it does, that still leaves an enormous amount of vulnerable civilian systems.