List of solar storms
of different types are caused by disturbances on the Sun, most often coronal clouds associated with coronal mass ejections produced by solar flares emanating from active sunspot regions, or, less often, from coronal holes. Solar filaments may also trigger CMEs, trigger flares, or occur in conjunction with flares, and the associated CMEs can be intensified.
Background
Active stars produce disturbances in space weather with the field of heliophysics, the science that studies such phenomena; itself primarily an interdisciplinary combination of solar physics and planetary science.In the Solar System, the Sun can produce intense geomagnetic and energetic particle storms capable of causing severe damage to technology including but not limited to large scale power outages, disruption or blackouts of radio communications, and temporary to permanent disabling of satellites and other spaceborne technology. Intense solar storms may also be hazardous to high-latitude, high-altitude aviation and to human spaceflight. Geomagnetic storms are the cause of auroras. The most significant known solar storm, across the most parameters, occurred in September 1859 and is known as the "Carrington event". The damage from the most potent solar storms is capable of existentially threatening the stability of modern human civilization, although proper preparedness and mitigation can substantially reduce the hazards.
Proxy data from Earth, as well as analysis of stars similar to the Sun suggest that it may be capable of producing so called superflares, those which are much larger than any flares in the historical record, but it contradicts the models of solar flares and to the statistic of extreme solar events reconstructed using cosmogenic isotope data in terrestrial archives. The discrepancy is not yet resolved and may be related to a biased statistic of the stellar population of solar analogs
Notable events
Electromagnetic, geomagnetic, and/or particle storms
Proxy evidence
;Events indicated by multiple proxy-data studies- 660 BCE
- 774-775 — connected to the "Red Crucifix" aurora over British Isles and environs
- 993-994
Direct measurements and/or visual observations
Events not affecting Earth
The above events affected Earth, whereas the following events were directed elsewhere in the Solar System and were detected by monitoring spacecraft or other means.| Date | Event | Significance |
| Extreme solar flare | Strongest solar flare ever recorded at an estimated X28-X45+ | |
| Solar storm of 2012 | Ultrafast CME directed away from Earth with characteristics that may have made it a Carrington-class storm |