While you were going about your day on February 24th of this year, the sun was ejecting a massive jet of particles into space. This phenomenon is known as a CME, a coronal mass ejection and they often come after a solar flare.

Luckily for us on earth, this one was not pointing our way. According to scientists, this CME was one of the most massive ever observed. If it had hit the earth, it would have severely damaged communication networks and power grids all over the globe. They estimate the damages would have been over 2.6 trillion dollars. To put it in perspective, that is ten times more costly than the Fukushima disaster, the most expensive disaster in history.

The last time the earth was hit by a similar CME was in the mid-19th century. People said that the night skies were so lit up by solar radiation it was as bright as daylight.