Historically, spikes in the Earth's radiation levels were caused by solar flares. According to a new study, the spikes of radiation may not be caused by solar flares at all, but rather by something much more powerful.
Benjamin Pope, one of the study's authors, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the phenomenon could be a threat.
The study looked at tree rings for spikes of carbon 14, a radioactive isotope of carbon, and found spikes in radiation levels on Earth. The Japanese scientist that discovered the Miyake events named them after them.
There have been six known Miyake events in the past 10,000 years, with the most recent occurring in 993CE. They were thought to be caused by solar storms that occur at the peak of sunspot activity.
Pope and his team found that the radiation spikes were not just at the 11 year peak of the solar cycle.
How long did some of the spikes last?
Pope told the ABC that at least two of the events took longer than a year.
In 1859, the last powerful solar flare struck our planet. At the time it was known as the Carrington event.
A Carrington-like event in an age reliant on electronics and the internet could be catastrophic. The Miyake events would have been more powerful than any other event.
What force could have caused these events?
Pope thinks it could be a lot of solar flares in a short period of time.
He explained that recurrent solar flares go off again and again.
Pope thinks that the chances of such an event happening soon are slim.
Pope said there was a one percent chance of seeing another one within the next decade.
There are close up shots of the sun that look nothing like you would expect.
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