According to a new study, a solar flare just missed earth in 2012. Two CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) were hurled by the Sun towards earth on July 23, 2012, traveling at 3,000 km/second. It was very fortunate that the CMEs went past earth by a very small margin. NASA has said that the electrical systems would have suffered serious damage if the CMEs in question had hit earth. Huge burst of magnetic fields and solar wind from the Sun leads to the formation of CMEs.

Although majority of people have no idea about the solar storm, as a matter of fact, the one that missed earth in 2012 would have had serious consequences. National Academy of Sciences said the destruction caused by the eruption in 2012 would have certainly taken decades to repair. Two trillion dollars have been estimated as the cost of repairing the damage that could have been caused by the solar event in 2012.

Huge damages could have been caused to nuclear reactors, communication systems, dams and power systems. Researchers have suggested people to act proactively in case earth is struck by this solar eruption in future. According to them, the gas tanks should be kept half full and plastic water containers should be kept frozen in the freezer.

"I have come away from our recent studies more convinced than ever that Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did. If the eruption had occurred only one week earlier, Earth would have been in the line of fire", physicist Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado said in a NASA Science online release.

We must thank god that earth managed to miss a catastrophic encounter with two massive clouds of plasma released by the Sun.