Carrington Event 1859: The Night Aurora Reached Cuba

“Gold miners in the Rocky Mountains wake up and make coffee, bacon and eggs at 1:00 AM, thinking the Sun has risen on a cloudy morning.”

“Intense geomagnetic storms ignited Northern Lights as far south as Cuba and caused global telegraph lines to spark, setting fire to some telegraph offices”

“geomagnetic storm of 1859, largest geomagnetic storm ever recorded.”

“In 17.6 hours, the CME traversed over 90 million miles (150 million km) between the sun and Earth and unleashed its force on our planet.”

“The aurora was observed to reach extremely low geomagnetic latitudes on August 28–29 (~25°) and on September 2–3 (~18°).”

“he calculated the odds that a Carrington-class storm would hit Earth in the next ten years. The answer: 12%.”

“Around 11:00 AM, he sees a sudden flash of intense white light from the area of the sunspots.”

“On September 1, 1859, Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson, while observing a large sunspot group independently, were the first to observe a white light flare”

“Carrington noted the coincidence (but did not claim a direct connection) between the geomagnetic storm and the solar flare”

“The first optical observation of a CME was made on 14 December 1971 using the coronagraph of Orbiting Solar Observatory 7 (OSO-7).”

“we know that the peak of Solar Cycle 10 was in February 1860. The Carrington Event happened just months earlier, in September 1859.”

“It's likely that the Carrington event was also associated with multiple eruptions, and this may turn out to be a key requirement for extreme events,”

“| Sabine | September 2 | 12:30 AM | 11° 14′19″N | 83°49′30″W | RG24 |”

“The northern lights (aurora borealis) were witnessed as far south as Cuba and Honolulu, Hawaii, whilst the southern lights (aurora australis) were seen as far north as Santiago, Chile”

“the aurora was described as a blood or deep crimson red that was so bright that one “could read a newspaper by.””

“Auroral forms of all types and colors were observed below 50° latitude for ~24 h on August 28–29 and ~42 h on September 2–3.”

“Spikes of electricity surge into the world's telegraph systems, and no one can send a message.”

“A significant portion of the world’s 200,000 km of telegraph lines were adversely affected, many of which were unusable for 8 h or more which had a real economic impact.”

“There were widespread stories of people receiving shocks from doorknobs and other metal objects, thanks to the induction of electrical currents.”

“Strong geomagnetic storms can disrupt satellites, GPS, radio systems and even electrical power grids by inducing currents in long power lines.”

“they could however unplug their batteries and transmit messages to Portland, Maine, using only the auroral current according to Ars Technica.”

“describes how a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) tore through Earth orbit on July 23, 2012. Fortunately Earth wasn't there. Instead, the storm cloud hit the STEREO-A spacecraft.”

“If the eruption had occurred only one week earlier, Earth would have been in the line of fire.”

“the resulting geomagnetic storm would have registered a Dst of -1200, comparable to the Carrington Event and twice as bad as the March 1989 Quebec blackout.”

“Modern estimates of Dst for the Carrington Event itself range from -800 nT to a staggering -1750 nT.”

“The worst geomagnetic storm of the Space Age, which knocked out power across Quebec in March 1989, registered Dst=-600 nT.”

“Solar storms like the one in 1859 happen only about every 500 years—thankfully. But smaller storms happen frequently, and storms half as intense as the 1859 storm happen about every 50 years.”

“This indicates that the sun is capable of producing solar wind conditions (e.g., CME) necessary to produce a comparable auroral event during almost any solar cycle.”

“But when the sun releases a CME, it’s difficult to work out exactly how much material will hit us. Put simply, we don’t know which ones are the dangerous ones.”

“Today, such a storm could severely damage satellites, disable communications by telephone, radio, and TV, and cause electrical blackouts over whole continents.”

“perishable foods and medications lost in 12-24 hours; loss of heating/air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, fuel re-supply and so on,”

“After the event, 38 satellites reentered the atmosphere by February 12 while the remaining 11 were able to raise their orbits and avoid loss due to the storm.”

“storms in October and November in 2003 caused transformer failures in North America and Europe.”

“a Carrington-class event today would result in between $0.6 and $2.6 trillion in damages to the U.S. alone”

“the total economic impact could exceed $2 trillion or 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina.”

“While most satellites are just a few hundred miles above Earth, the GOES-R series satellites are 22,300 miles out in space.”

“aurora is commonly visible at high latitudes (northern Michigan and Maine).”

“HF radio may be intermittent, and aurora has been seen as low as Illinois and Oregon (typically 50° geomagnetic lat.).”

“satellite navigation degraded for hours, low-frequency radio navigation disrupted, and aurora has been seen as low as Alabama and northern California (typically 45° geomagnetic lat.).”

“HF (high frequency) radio propagation may be impossible in many areas for one to two days, satellite navigation may be degraded for days, low-frequency radio navigation can be out for hours, and aurora has been seen as low as Florida and southern Texas (typically 40° geomagnetic lat.).”

“At Kp = 0, the equator ward edge of the auroral oval is approximately 66 degrees. And it moves equatorward about 2 degrees for each level of Kp.”

“In calm conditions, single frequency GPS systems can provide position information with an accuracy of a meter or less. During a severe space weather storm, these errors can increase to tens of meters or more.”

“But when the ionosphere becomes highly disturbed, the GPS receiver cannot lock on the satellite signal and position information becomes inaccurate.”

“These frequencies are used by amateur (ham) radio operators and many industries such as commercial airlines.”

“causing extra drag on satellites in low-earth orbit.”

“The best Seasons for aurora watching are around the spring and fall equinoxes.”

“Best aurora is usually within an hour or two of midnight (between 10 PM and 2 AM local time).”

“It must also be dark so during the summer months at auroral latitudes, the midnight sun prevents auroral observations.”