Comet Maknota, taken by a Super-North-European telescope in January 2007

Large comets in a collision with the Sun can cause global disruption of electronics, which are usually associated with the work of electromagnetic weapons or full-scale nuclear exchange.

At least, so says astrophysicist David Eichler in his article, saying that large comets are approximately equal in size to the comet Hale-BOPP (with a core of about 30 km in diameter) can in a collision with the Sun to generate cosmic shock wave big enough to cause global electromagnetic Armageddon.

Eichler, an astrophysicist from the Israeli University Ben-Gurion University in beer-Sheva, argues that the satellites that will not be in a defensive mode, will be destroyed along with most of electronics in the world - from chips in cell phones and ending with the most powerful power plants.

If such a comet will be comparable in size to comet Hale-BOPP, the resulting solar flare, according to Eichler, will exceed anything we have ever seen before.

The comet will undergo compression and then explodes in the solar atmosphere, which in turn will generate huge blast wave, says Eichler.

The scientist believes that such drums flash has already taken place in the 775 BC, judging by results of the analysis of tree rings, which point to the sudden rise in the atmosphere of carbon-14 1.2 percent.

And while the movement of such comets can be a source of energy of a shock wave present its acceleration of the particle will get in the magnetic field of the Sun, explains Eichler.

Traveling at a speed of 1000 miles per second, the shock wave reaches the Earth in about a day and a half. And its consequences will be much more serious Carringtons incident 1859, when the solar hurricane disrupted the operation of Telegraph lines, and the Northern lights in the ionosphere could be observed even in Texas.

"Fortunately, judging by the annual rings of trees, such events happen every few thousand years," says Eichler. "But according to my calculations, the collision of such a comet can be 30 times stronger Carringtons incident".

A volley of cosmic radiation from these tendencies will be held in the atmosphere of Land near the magnetic poles, where the magnetic resistance is minimal.

When the shock wave will hit the Earth's magnetic field, it will cause it to vibrate. And when the lines of the magnetic field vibrate, this creates an electric field that causes an electric current in the wires.

"This can cause severe shock and burn chips," says Eichler. "This is the danger of a giant electromagnetic pulses is that powerful electric field will hit the tiny microchips, designed only for small currents".

And although this incident is unlikely to be harmful to humans, it can be extremely destructive to our electronic network and probably will send us back to the Stone age, Eichler says.

The caption for an image: Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-BOPP)

Most contact with the Sun comets are too small to cause even a ripple on the surface of the star.

"If the comet the size of comet Hale-BOPP will hit into the solar corona," said Eichler, "we will receive a solar flare more than Carringtons the incident. It is likely that the comet Hale-BOPP in the distant future will be included in the Solar atmosphere".

The caption for an image: Astrophysicist David Eichler

But there is one positive thing - astronomers can predict the appearance of such a large comet for several years before her arrival.

However, except for some military electronics, our equipment is not protected from such magnetospheric injury.

In today's world Carringtons the incident itself could become a catastrophe, says Eichler, but he was not some extremely powerful or any unique from the point of view of the astrophysical timeline.

After my research, Eichler says that he is actually quite surprised that we are still alive.

"I didn't realize that the Solar system is so dangerous place," he says. "Perhaps the fact that we are still alive - it's just luck".