The power of the Sun became evident when news broke of a new solar flare whose size is equivalent to 10 times that of Earth, we find ourselves in a period of solar maximum, the Sun has cycles like any other celestial body, the duration of its cycles is approximately 11 years, although it is not something fixed, and it can occur around nine or 14 years, however there are indicative signs that a cusp will occur, the sunspots and the magnetism that reaches us from the Sun, and which sometimes causes auroras boreales in unusual places.
The last solar activity maximum occurred between 2000 and 2001, and it seems clear that it will affect Earth's climate, tree growth, or precipitation.
Statistics from some North American observatories indicate that in years of greater solar activity, up to 40% more snow falls than in years of low activity, and the number of icebergs recorded in temperate seas can double. The lack of more complete data, and the absence of a theory explaining this phenomenon from a theoretical point of view, means that this correspondence is generally not given the importance it possibly has.
It also occurs within this period of maximums and minimums, thanks to modern computers and the knowledge of the relationship between magnetism, sunspots and other signals, we know that this solar cycle in which we already find ourselves can be between 30 and 50% more intense than the previous one, and there are also reports indicating that it could be the one of greatest magnitude in the last 400 years (NASA).
The Sun's capacity to cause alterations on Earth is much greater than what we might initially suspect, the enormous dependence we currently have on satellite telecommunications, and in general on electronic devices, makes evident the great influence that a solar flare of great magnitude could have.
To give an example that is also surprising, let us say that in the year 1859 a violent solar storm occurred, in which auroras boreales were produced in places such as Spain or the United Kingdom, news from that era reports that the brightness of the aurora rivaled the light of the Sun, on the other hand many fires in telegraph cables had to be extinguished, it is worth remembering that an aurora boreal:
A polar aurora occurs when a solar mass ejection collides with the north and south poles of Earth's magnetosphere, producing a diffuse but predominant light projected onto Earth's ionosphere.
It occurs when charged particles (protons and electrons) are guided by Earth's magnetic field and strike the atmosphere near the poles. When these particles collide with atoms and molecules of oxygen and nitrogen, which constitute the most abundant components of air, part of the collision energy excites those atoms to energy levels such that when they de-excite they return that energy in the form of visible light of various colors. Wikipedia (aurora boreal).
During the solar maximum of 1859, telegraph cables melted, an event of the same magnitude or greater as seems to be expected would directly leave without power, only in the United States, 140 million people, and this is neither science fiction nor magufo fiction, it is a possibility.
Although we know that satellites already have an early warning system built in, which would shut them down for sufficient time, we also know of effects that can persist for a long period of time without being able to be resolved, for example the GPS networks would stop functioning immediately, and electrical grids would have to be repaired in many places, delaying normalization for a long time.
On February 14th last we already had a peak of great intensity that could have caused auroras and communication difficulties of an unpredictable but in any case high magnitude, however the position of Earth's magnetic field in relation to the solar ejection was fortunate for us, the same did not occur in 1859 and it could happen again.
This has nothing to do with the end of the world, but it is a real possibility that could significantly alter social reality.