What Happened? In March of 1989, a immense area of Sunspots large enough to contain 70 Earth-size planets had come into view around the eastern edge of the Sun. Created by intense magnetic fields, the giant Sunspot group suddenly brightened and expanded to cover hundreds of thousands of square miles. This solar eruption, called a flare, was accompanied by a huge burst of electromagnetic radiation and a large coronal mass ejection, or CME. The radiation, mostly in the form of X-rays, traveled at the speed of light and was detected on Earth about eight minutes after the flare erupted. Carried along by the solar wind that blows continuously away from the Sun at speeds of up to several million m.p.h., the energetic particles from this CME happened to intercept Earth in its orbit around the Sun, generating huge sheets of electrical current above Earth’s surface. These currents produced magnetic field changes below Earth’s surface, and led to a complete collapse of the Hydro-Quebec power grid. Storm damage was estimated to be around $50 million.