- UNDATED PHOTO - Scientists expect this year to be one of the worst for solar storms, surges of charged particles that knock out satellites, power grids and even garage door openers. This photo shows the sun's coronal holes in an x-ray image. The outer solar atmosphere, the corona, is structured by strong magnetic fields, which when closed can cause the atmosphere to suddenly and violently release bubbles or tongues of gas and magnetic fields called coronal mass ejections which streak out through the interplanetary medium, impacting any planets or spacecraft in its path. - RTXJJYX© Ho New / Reuters

MELTDOWN07.29.151:08 PM ET

The British government is preparing for the next solar storm, which could drastically disrupt life on Earth. How scared should we be?
Shop ▾ LONDON — Last time it happened, in 1859, the world’s telegraph machines sparked into life on their own—setting fires and electrocuting their operators. Next time the results could be truly devastatin

Read more  The dailybeast