Thursday, September 1st, 1859  Richard Carrington would become a placeholder in history as he recorded Sol's burst of gastric relief which became one of the most recognized and followed astronomical events of modern times.  History records this as the "Carrington  Event".

Just before dawn the next day, skies all over planet Earth erupted in red, green, and purple auroras so brilliant that newspapers could be read as easily as in daylight. Indeed, stunning auroras pulsated even at near tropical latitudes over Cuba, the Bahamas, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Hawaii.

Even more disconcerting, telegraph systems worldwide went haywire.  Spark discharges shocked telegraph operators and set the telegraph paper on fire. Even when telegraphers disconnected the batteries powering the lines, aurora-induced electric currents in the wires still allowed messages to be transmitted.

"What Carrington saw was a white-light solar flare—a magnetic explosion on the sun," explains David Hathaway, solar physics team lead at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

If this same event were to occur today, most if not all of what we take for granted (electricity, solid-state electronics, radio/TV, etc) would cease to exist.  Our safe and sound world is far more fragile than we imagine.

More to follow...

Braun Tacon