But scientists have observed much larger explosions, with the power of a trillion hydrogen bombs, in other stars, and have called them “superflares.” Although no superflare has yet been seen in our own sun, scientists have wondered whether our star is capable of producing such incredibly powerful flares, and if so, when it might do so. A paper published Thursday in the journal Science provides more information about superflares. The researchers found that stars like the sun produce extremely powerful flares about once every 100 years. That’s a much higher estimate than expected, and suggests that we could see a super-powerful solar event sooner rather than later.
