A new study suggests how the sun can send a powerful superflare that can not only wreak havoc on Earth based communication satellites and technology but could also possibly end life on the planet as we know it.

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These superflares are also produced by the exact, basic processes of how regular flares are blasted off by high energy radioactive emissions from the sun, however these superflares are thousands of times more powerful, according to researchers.

According to co-author of the study, Anne-Marie Broomhall of the University of Warwick in England, this result is supporting the hypothesis that the sun has the ability to produce a potentially destructive superflare.

In this new study, the team analyzed this superflare emitted by a binary star known as KIC9655129 located some 1,500 light years away, with the help of NASA's Kepler Space Telescope.

The planet hunting telescope can detect even the most minute changes in brightness from distant stars and this is exactly how telescopes detect exoplanets. These dips in brightness can be caused by orbiting worlds as they cross their host stars, blocking light that is directly beamed at Earth. 

Kepler's observations revealed many major similarities between the superflare emitted by KIC9655129 and eruptions made from our sun, according to researchers.

According to lead author of the study, Chloe Pugh from the University of Warwick, sometimes solar flares contain multiple waves that are layered on top of each other where there is already evidence of these multiple waves or multiple periodicities found within a stellar superflare. The properties of these waves are also consistent with solar flares.

Powerful solar flares can cause temporary blackouts in radio signals which often occur with massive explosions of solar plasma known as coronal mass ejections that are even more destructive. These powerful CMEs crash into Earth which result in geomagnetic storms affecting GPS naviagation, radio and satellite communications and even power grids, for longer periods of time. 

A superflare and a super CME combo can spell disaster, says Pugh. However, this is still a worst case scenario, not happening anytime soon as the conditions that are needed to produce this superflare are highly unlikely to happen on the sun based on prior solar activity.

This new study is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 

Tagssolar flares, CME, coronal mass ejection, Sun, sun superflare end life on earth, sun superflare, Kepler space telescope, superflare