A massive solar storm in July 2012 was more intense than thought—and it blasted right through the Earth’s orbit. Luckily for us, we were on the other side of the sun, thus missing the chaos completely. But if that storm had hit this beautiful little blue marble in space? “The solar bursts would have enveloped Earth in magnetic fireworks matching the largest magnetic storm ever reported on Earth, the so-called Carrington event of 1859,” Science Daily reports.

These “fireworks” could have knocked out our electrical grid and satellites, leaving us in global darkness without telecommunications or GPS, potentially for years.  Here’s the linky to the article.  If you were off the grid, however, with wind and/or solar and battery backup…