Superflare from Sun ‘disastrous’ for life on Earth

A ‘superflare’ unleashed by the Sun could release energy equivalent to a billion one megaton nuclear bombs and threaten all the Earth’s communications and energy systems, scientists have said.

The danger became apparent when astronomers observed a superflare on a star with similar characteristics to ordinary solar flares.

Because the underlying physics of both appear the same, it suggests the Sun could potentially produce a superflare 1,000 times more powerful than any flare previously reported.