Via Phys.org - March 2016 Every now and then large sun storms strike the Earth, causing aurora, and in rare cases, power outages. But these events are nothing compared to the apocalyptic destruction Earth would experience if struck by a superflare. An international research team led by Christoffer Karoff from Aarhus University, Denmark, has now shown that this scenario is a real possibility. The Earth is often struck by solar eruptions. These eruptions consist of energetic particles that are hurled away from the sun into space, where those directed towards Earth encounter the magnetic field around our planet. When these eruptions interact with Earth's magnetic field, they cause beautiful auroras, poetic phenomena that remind us that our closest star is an unpredictable neighbor. When the sun pours out gigantic amounts of hot plasma during large solar eruptions, it may have severe consequences on Earth. Solar eruptions are, however, nothing compared to the eruptions we see on other