We have definitely not had anything even close to that
flare since 1859.

	In March of 1989, there was a flare that was the largest
recorded in recent history, but even that flare was much less
powerful than the one in September of 1859.

	We would probably get a little warning that something
big might happen as there were apparently a few other large
flares just 3 or 4 days earlier on August 28 of 1859 so that
Solar cycle must have been a dandy, even bigger than the one in
1958 in which there were also some really big flares.

	The flare in 1989 was so bad that magnetic compasses
read as much as 5 degrees off in the North Sea so some petrolium
operations had to be temporarily suspended for safety reasons.

	The farther North or South of the Equator you go, the
worse the effects of Solar activity become.
colin McDonald writes:


Martin
> it's a good article.
> they say something similar may happen this year...but they can say 
> anything
> they want right.