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It's nothing compared to something called the "Carrington Event" in 1859, a huge solar flare that set telegraph machines on fire and produced an auroral glow in many parts of the world bright enough to read by. Even when telegraph operators disconnected their batteries, "aurora-induced electric currents in the wires still allowed messages to be transmitted," according to a NASA historical account.
...
The technology journal referred to the cyclical nature of solar activity, adding that the current cycle was expected to peak in 2013, when another "Carrington Event" was most likely to occur.
Only problem is that if such an event happened today, it would cause much, much more damage than it did in the 19th century.
The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity," Richard Fisher, head of NASA's Heliophysics Division, reportedly said last year. "At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms.
(from globalpost dispath)