Carrington Event’s 1859 solar storm still stuns

Carrington Event: biggest geomagnetic storm.

Drawing of sunspots by Richard Carrington in 1859.

A coronal mass ejection raced to Earth in just 17.6 hours.

The Sun shown in false-color ultraviolet light.

Previous solar eruptions cleared space, letting the storm speed up.

Auroras lit skies worldwide, reaching as far as Colombia near the equator.

Gold miners in the Rocky Mountains woke, thinking dawn had come.

Solar chromosphere observed in hydrogen-alpha spectral line.

Some telegraph operators sent messages using aurora-induced currents alone.

The Carrington Event caused low-latitude daytime auroras worldwide.

September 1859 geomagnetic storm caused low-latitude auroras.

Extreme storms likely need several eruptions to create a perfect solar storm.

Scientists estimate a 12 percent chance of another Carrington-class storm soon.

The Carrington Event was the biggest geomagnetic storm.