The sun and the unequal heating of the Earth drive all of our weather. The sun also causes space weather in the form of the solar wind. The solar wind brings us beautiful Auroras, but can and has in the past, caused mass chaos to our daily lives.
What You Need To Know
- The sun is a ball of gas comprised of 91% hydrogen and 8.9% helium at its core, and it burns at 27 million degrees Fahrenheit
- The sun has a magnetic field, and the rotating sun can cause twists in the magnetic field, causing sunspots
- Solar flares are massive explosions that coincide with sunspots that can cause coronal mass ejections or CMEs
- CMEs cause geomagnetic storms on Earth that can cause damage to satellites and our power grid on the surface
The Carrington event is named after amateur astronomer Richard Carrington. On the morning of September 1, he climbed into his private observatory on his estate and viewed a cluster of sunspots on the sun’s surface.
As he began to sketch them, he saw two patches of intensely bright white fireballs erupting out of the sunspots. They lasted for about 5 minutes. A few hours later, people felt their impact around the globe.
A powerful CME caused the bright white fireball. An intense geomagnetic storm occurred on Earth when the solar flare interacted with Earth's geomagnetic field. It came in two pulses and had the power of 10 BILLION atomic bombs.
The flare of electrified gas and subatomic particles raced towards Earth and wreaked havoc on the daily lives of people across the globe.
As the flare reached Earth, telegraph lines began to spark. Some telegraph operators received an electrical shock, and there were reports of papers on their desks set ablaze!
Many of these telegraph lines were knocked out of service, causing a massive breakdown in communication across the country and the world.
All over the planet, Auroras burned so brightly that birds started chirping, and people woke up, thinking they had overslept. The sky appeared as though it were on fire. The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) was seen nearly to the equator, with vivid reports from Cuba and Jamaica.
Lights from this flare, and those that witnessed this event, have long since passed, but there is geological evidence of the power reaped on Earth from the CME embedded in ice cores.
The ice core samples show that the Carrington Event was twice as big as any other solar storm in the last 500 years.
In 1859, telegraph lines were rapidly spreading across the United States and the World. Today, we refer to this era as the Victorian Internet.
Many of these lines became temporarily disrupted, causing panic with the lack of communication with what just occurred.
While another strong CME can occur at any time, they are rare. Can you imagine if one similar to the Carrington Event happened today?
In 1859, the population was likely less than 1.5 billion people. Today the population is close to 7.7 billion. We now have satellites and high-speed internet, all powered by a massive grid of electricity that dwarfs what was in use during the Carrington Event.
If this type of solar geomagnetic storm occurred today, it would cost an estimated one to two TRILLION dollars in damage. It would certainly cause extensive economic and social disruptions across the planet.
For a look at all the celestial events happening THIS YEAR, check out this blog, and mark them on your calendar.