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AnonTechie writes:

On 23 July 2012, two coronal mass ejections (CME) burst out of the Sun's surface within 15 minutes of each other and headed out into space at more than 3,000km per second. If they had erupted nine days earlier Earth would have been directly in its path. Instead, NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) satellite was perfectly positioned to record the blast.

For a paper [PDF] in the journal Space Weather, scientists analyzed the data from STEREO and found that the CMEs were the largest yet measured and could even have exceeded the notorious 1859 Carrington event. Had they hit us, the resulting electromagnetic disturbance could have taken out most of the GPS network, communications satellites, electrical grids and some servers.

The Carrington Event, named after the British astronomer who spotted the CME, hit Earth in August 1859, back when electrical systems were in their infancy. It burnt out telegraph systems across Europe and the US setting fire to some buildings and extended the aurora borealis as far south as Cuba.

"In my view, the July 2012 storm was in all respects at least as strong as the 1859 Carrington event," said Baker. "The only difference is, it missed."

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/26/two_years_ago_earth_missed_solar_doom_by_just_one_week/

Additional information: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/23jul_superstorm/