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The Carrington Event of 1859
"Inevitability is the silent force that shapes our path, no matter how we try to resist."
On September 1, 1859, astronomer Richard Carrington was observing a huge sunspot. Suddenly, a flash of intense white light burst from the sun's surface. He had become the first eye-witness of a major Coronal Mass Ejection or CME. And it was headed straight for earth. Seventeen hours later, the night sky in North America lit up like the day. Aurora Borealis, typically only seen near the north pole, were visible as far south as Colombia. In the southern hemisphere, Aurora Australis were visible North of Brisbane. A few hours later, on September 2, the most powerful solar storm ever recorded crashed into the Earth's atmosphere. The geomagnetic storm induced strong electrical currents in telegraph wires, causing widespread disruptions. Some telegraph operators reported receiving electric shocks, telegraph paper caught fire, and in some cases, telegraph systems continued to operate even after being disconnected from their power supplies due to the geomagnetic currents. Nobody had ever seen anything like this before. This became known as the Carrington Event. At the time, scientists thought this was a unique phenomenon. It wasn't. A similar solar storm of this magnitude occurring today would cause widespread electrical disruptions, blackouts and damage due to extended outages of the electrical grid. We're overdue! Tartan up! 🧡 🖤 ❤️ 😎 🔥 🔥 🔥
A solar flare is a sudden flash of increased brightness, usually observed near the sun's surface. Flares are often, but not always, accompanied by a coronal mass ejection. The flare ejects clouds of electrons, ions, and atoms along with the electromagnetic waves through the Sun's corona into outer space.
Solar flares strongly influence the local space weather in the vicinity of the Earth. They can produce streams of highly energetic particles in the solar wind or stellar wind, known as a solar proton event. These particles can impact the Earth's magnetosphere (see main article at geomagnetic storm), and present radiation hazards to spacecraft and astronauts. Additionally, massive solar flares are sometimes accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) which can trigger geomagnetic storms that have been known to disable satellites and knock out terrestrial electric power grids for extended periods of time.
The solar storm of 1859 (also known as the Carrington Event) was a powerful geomagnetic solar storm during solar cycle 10 (1855–1867). A solar coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetosphere and induced one of the largest geomagnetic storms on record, September 1–2, 1859. The associated "white light flare" in the solar photosphere was observed and recorded by British astronomers Richard C. Carrington (1826–1875) and Richard Hodgson (1804–1872).
A solar storm of this magnitude occurring today would cause widespread disruptions and damage due to extended outages of the electrical grid. The solar storm of 2012 was of similar magnitude, but it passed Earth's orbit without striking the planet.
These same energetic particles in the magnetosphere contribute to the aurora borealis and aurora australis.
This fiery tartan by designer Carol A.L. Martin, replicates the hot colors of the sun against the black of empty space.
For more about solar events, click the flaring sun for a link to a Solar Activity watch site.