>The largest and most powerful X-class flare to hit the Earth is thought to have caused the 1859 Carrington Event, which resulted in bright aurorae being seen around the world, and caused sparking and even fires in some telegraph stations. It's thought that if a storm of this magnitude occurred today, it would result in extended outages of the electrical power grid.
Huge sunspot pointed straight at Earth has developed a delta magnetic field
Sunspot AR3089, which is pointed at the Earth, may be about to eject a powerful X-class solar flare.
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