Solar storms have long battered Earth, but a recent discovery has stunned scientists: evidence of a monstrous space weather event that struck our planet over 14,000 years ago—far more intense than anything in modern records.

Today, even mild solar flares can interrupt power grids, GPS, and satellites. But what if an event powerful enough to cripple all modern technology is buried not in our future, but in the distant past?

Researchers studying ancient solar activity have uncovered a major clue in the form of a “Miyake Event”, an extreme surge in radioactive carbon-14, preserved in tree rings from Scots Pines near France’s Drouzet River. This carbon anomaly, dated to around 12,350 BC, was further confirmed by beryllium-10 found in Greenland’s ice cores—proof of a globally disruptive space storm.

These Miyake Events, named after physicist Fusa Miyake, reflect cosmic particle bombardments that leave unmistakable radioactive signatures on Earth. This newly identified event likely dwarfs the infamous Carrington Event of 1859, previously considered the strongest solar storm in human history.

Scientists Kseniia Golubenko and Ilya Usoskin from Finland’s University of Oulu reconstructed Ice Age atmospheric conditions with a chemistry-climate model. They concluded that the ancient storm was 500 times more powerful than the major 2005 solar flare that threatened aviation and communications.

Usoskin noted chillingly: “In 2005, a polar flight might expose you to a year’s radiation dose in an hour. During this Ice Age storm, it would’ve taken only eight seconds.”