A massive eruption of solar material, known as a coronal mass ejection or CME, was detected escaping from the Sun at 11:36 p.m. EDT on March 12, 2023. The CME erupted from the side of the Sun opposite Earth. Fortunately, it wasn’t a replay of the Carrington event of 1859. The eruption was on the opposite side on the Sun, facing away from the earth.

Estimates suggest it was ten to one hundred times more powerful than the 1859 event. Had it been an earth-facing, direct, head-on kill-shot, well, you wouldn’t be reading this.