This is what happens if the Sun storm is strong enough to erase the technology of mankind

The frightening thing is that we cannot know when a giant storm will take place and turn to Earth.

It is strange and fortunate that the worst solar storm ever recorded occurred at a time when humanity was not much affected. I have escaped the Sun's wrath within a few moments.

That was the Carrington Event , the Sun storm that took place in 1859, launched a massive solar wind into the magnetosphere to protect the Earth, creating a geomagnetic storm with the power that modern civilization never had. witnessed.

During a big storm, strong currents sweep through the surface of the Earth.

A large band of charged particles ejects directly into the Earth's magnetic field, the ultra-high aurora illuminates the sky. In a big storm, strong currents sweep over the surface of the Earth, creating more than beautiful images.

The telegraph system in Europe and North America completely collapsed, the devices sparkling electricity, causing the operator to be shocked and in some cases, the paper in the office caught fire.

Earth technology has sunk in chaos. What if comparing technology of 1859 with today?

In fact, no one knows exactly what will happen, but considering how technology has crept into every aspect of today's life, look at massive technology works, comparable to single telegrams. The record of 1859, it is likely that the damage will not be small.

To make it easier to see the problem, we can relate to the strange events that took place in March 1989. At that time, a solar storm hit the Earth, only not as strong as Hurricane Carrington ancient People on the ground could see the aurora in the sky. Electrically charged particles in the atmosphere cause radio interference and affect satellite communications.

The particles carrying electricity in the atmosphere cause radio interference and affect satellite communications.

The most serious consequence can be Quebec, Canada, when the entire power grid here has stopped working, meaning that 6 million people must live in the power outage. For many people, this outage lasted only a few hours but for many others, they had to live many days in the absence of electricity.

It is this disastrous consequence that has frightened the United States one day, a strong local typhoon similar to the Carrington Sun storm will happen again. The US government sets out a specific plan to deal with this case.

A solar storm that is large enough to knock down communications and power networks around the world for days, months or even years. Countless things will be affected: grid, satellite, GPS system, Internet, phone, transportation systems . When everything connects with everything, it will mean everything If you leave, you will leave at the same time.

At that time, the scale will not only be Quebec but also the world.

In the case of the least worry, geomagnetic storms will only affect communication systems

This is not science fiction, this is a complete disaster. The parameter said we could face losses of up to US $ 2 trillion in the first year alone, and the recovery process would probably take a decade.

Worse, there are those who give up to $ 20 trillion in damage. This huge number will make people think back to the disasters from the Universe.

"In the past, when it comes to" falling from the sky ", people often think of meteorites," says cosmologist Abraham Loeb from Harvard University. "But a century ago, we did not have the technology infrastructure like this day, and technology has been developing extremely fast. Therefore, the previous day's damage is not expected to be the same today. ".

In the case of the least worry, geomagnetic storms will only affect communication systems. But history has shown how the effects on communications systems can cause damage. In the tense moment of the Cold War, the Sun storm caused all three missile detection systems of the United States to stop working, they thought it was an act of the Soviet Union and almost attacked. The Soviet side also has a similar story, something unrelated to the Sun storm.

American early missile detection system.

The risk is immense, but we don't own technology that tells us when a solar storm will happen. Under the sky full of beautiful aurora, people will desperately start over again.

"When a Carrington caliber event takes place tomorrow, the consequences will be extremely catastrophic , " said director of energy research at MIT Francis O'Sullivan.

"It won't just be all the lights off. Bank accounts will disappear . If you imagine what happens if the stock trading stops for a week or a month, or if it's all communication is cut off for a similar period of time, you will understand that this is the most terrible disaster we can face. "