Solar Flares Fun Fact #1
Pointed out by T.W. Piperbrook in a fun fact post on Facebook— Fun Solar Flare Fact 
: In 2012, we narrowly missed a Carrington-level solar storm by only 9 days.
If Earth had been in a slightly different spot in its orbit, we’d have been knocked back into the 1800s overnight!
We Almost Time-Traveled Back to the 1800s — Thanks, Sun!
Most people think of outer space as this quiet, serene, pitch-black vacuum. But sitting out there like a cosmic dragon is our very own Sun — beautiful, warm, life-giving… and occasionally a raging fireball capable of punching Earth right in the electrical grid.
In 2012, scientists discovered that we barely dodged a massive solar storm, the kind that could have turned modern civilization into an unplugged camping trip — only without the s’mores, Wi-Fi, functioning hospitals, ATMs, refrigerators, or Netflix.
This near-miss was just nine days off.
Nine.
Single-digit.
As in, if Earth had been slightly further along in its orbit, we’d have caught the full blast.
And this wasn’t just any solar burp.
It was a Carrington-level event.
So What Was the Carrington Event?
Think of it as the Super Bowl of Solar Chaos.
Back in 1859, long before TikTok drama and wireless routers, British astronomer Richard Carrington spotted an intense flash of light on the Sun. Turns out it was a colossal solar flare, followed by a coronal mass ejection (CME) — basically a billion-ton cloud of electrified plasma shot into space like the Sun sneezed lightning.
About 17 hours later, Earth got sucker-punched.
Auroras exploded across the globe, glowing red and green as far south as Cuba and Hawaii. Telegraph lines — the pinnacle of global communication at the time — sparked, shocked operators, caught fire, and in some places, worked without being plugged in because the geomagnetic surge was powering them like cosmic batteries.
It was stunning, terrifying, and also kind of metal.
Now Imagine That… With Smartphones, Satellites, and Power Grids
Today we live in a world where everything — banking, food distribution, water treatment, GPS, emergency services, communications, transportation — depends on fragile electronics and interconnected networks.
A solar storm of Carrington strength in modern civilization could mean:
✔ Power outages lasting weeks to months
✔ Satellites fried like cosmic popcorn
✔ Global internet collapse
✔ Grid transformers irreparably damaged
✔ Planes rerouted or grounded
✔ Banking & finance halted
✔ Medical systems crippled
✔ Population panic faster than you can say “Where’s my charger?”
Worst-case scenario?
A temporary global rewind to pre-industrial living — but with billions more people.
2012: The Almost-Apocalypse No One Felt
The 2012 CME was as powerful as the Carrington blast.
It just happened to miss us.
Like a bullet whizzing past your ear while you’re distracted making coffee.
That’s not sci-fi.
That’s sci-fact.
So… Should We Freak Out?
Not freak out.
But respect the threat.
We prep for hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and zombies (some of us more than others 👀).
It’s not unreasonable to acknowledge that the biggest danger to modern civilization might not come from Earth — but the fiery thing we orbit every day.
And honestly?
What a plot twist that would be.
Perhaps we should look to the books in this series for the answers to how characters and society would survive such an event.
T.W. Piperbrook’s Fear the Dark brings you A solar superstorm. A deadly EMP. An escaped convict, hellbent on a twisted reunion.
Ten years after suffering a violent attack, Samantha Young rebuilds her life in a small town in Colorado. Living in witness protection, she hopes to put the past behind and forge a new life with her nine-year-old daughter, Maddie. When a solar flare knocks out the power, Samantha prepares for a minor inconvenience. And then a CME hits, dumping the entire world into darkness.
En route from Cheshire Correctional Institute to MacDougal-Walker, Stephen Silva dreams of the day he’ll regain his freedom. He’s obsessed with finding his first and only victim, desperate for a second chance with her. When an unprecedented storm brings the world to its knees, it’s time to make his fantasy a reality.
He’ll find the girl who got away. He’ll finish what he started.
Final Thought
We are, right now, a highly technological species living in the first era in human history where a solar flare could literally reboot civilization. How would you fare?
That’s not scary.
That’s fascinating.
Well…
Okay, maybe fun-scary.
Written by DJ Cooper