The Big Attack of the Killer Solar Flares.(Abstract)(Brief Article)

Grade-school teachers like to say that all life on Earth depends on the sun's energy for warmth, photosynthesis and perfect beach days. It's a reassuring message. But as astronomers are all too aware, our neighborhood star can be fickle and dangerous--every so often it sends great gobs of deadly radiation out into the solar system. At last week's American Astronomical Society meeting, Stanford University scientists presented findings that may help predict the sun's next "mass ejection."

Last year the sun unleashed the biggest one scientists had ever seen: a tongue of flame stretching hundreds of millions of miles. Fortunately, the solar system is big and the Earth is a tiny speck; this one missed us. But we might not always be so lucky. A direct hit would have caused power outages, communications failures and birth defects from the radiation, not to mention one heck of an aurora borealis. An even bigger plume could conceivably do greater damage to life on the planet (quick, call Hollywood)--though, it must be said, ...