Daily Mail - A ‘great fire’ appeared in the sky over dozens of cities across Europe and Asia in 1582 and eye-witness accounts of this solar storm have recently been uncovered.
Scientists at Cornell University found eye-witness observations who report a ‘fiery red display in the sky’ that lasted three days, while another said ‘fire rays arose above the castle which were dreadful and fearful.’
People of this time were unaware of that the event was a massive solar storm, but modern-day astronomers are using the storms to help predict future solar activity.
The solar storm that hit the Earth on March 8, 1582 is comparable to those in 1909 and 1989, which suggest they are a ‘a once-in-a-century occurrence and ‘one or two can be expected in the 21st century,’ experts say.
If a similar intense solar storm were to hit our modern world, it would cause billions of dollars in damages and knock out power grids worldwide. READ MORE
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