Natural disaster
A solar flare is a phenomenon where the Sun suddenly releases a great amount of solar radiation, much more than normal. Solar flares are unlikely to cause any direct injury, but can destroy electrical equipment. The potential of solar storms to cause disaster was seen during the 1859 Carrington event, which disrupted the telegraph network, and the March 1989 geomagnetic storm which blacked out Quebec. Some major known solar flares include the X20 event on August 16, 1989, and a similar flare on April 2, 2001. The most powerful flare ever recorded occurred on November 4, 2003 (estimated at between X40 and X45).
Satellite flare
Flares may also occur from solar panels, but they are not as bright (up to −3.5 magnitude). Such flares last about twice as long as those from the main mission antennas (MMA), because the so-called "mirror angle" for the solar panels is twice that for the MMAs. There are also rare cases of flares from MMAs and solar panels, or two MMAs (front and either right or left) of one satellite in a single pass.