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The most powerful solar storm in recorded history occurred in 1859. Called the Carrington Event, it triggered intense auroral light shows and knocked out telegraph lines across the globe.

Scientists at Nasa say an equally strong storm was headed at Earth in 2012 and we had “a close shave just as perilous”. They say a powerful coronal mass ejection tore through Earth’s orbit on 23 July but that we were “incredibly fortunate” that instead of hitting our planet, the storm cloud hit Nasa’s solar observatory STEREO-A in space.