The Sun is a hot mess right now. Solar maximum is fast approaching, and a giant dark spot on the surface of the Sun keeps growing while spewing radiation out to space in the process. Sunspot R3664 ...

In 1859, astronomer Richard Carrington was studying the Sun when he witnessed the most intense geomagnetic storm recorded in history. The storm, triggered by a giant solar flare, sent brilliant ...

It was known as “the week the sun touched the earth.” In late August and early September 1859, two geomagnetic solar superstorms walloped our planet, illuminating the nighttime sky of ...

Amazingly, in 1859, before all that monitoring equipment was put in place, an astronomer spotted the flare before the storm reached Earth. Carrington's observation. The figures labeled A and B ...

This massive solar event set off the largest geomagnetic storm ever recorded in recent times, now widely known as the Carrington Event. Within roughly 18 hours, billions of particles emitted from ...

The strongest geomagnetic solar storm in history occurred on September 1-2, 1859, disrupting electricity on Earth. A combination of solar events caused “the most potent disruption of the planet’s ...

For instance, one of the strongest solar storms in documented history, which occurred in 1859, caused telegraph systems across Europe and North America to malfunction and spark into flames. open ...

The solar superstorm of 1859 was the fiercest ever recorded. Auroras filled the sky as far south as the Caribbean, magnetic compasses went haywire and telegraph systems failed.

Solar science was in its infancy in 1859, ... Everything found thus far pales in comparison to the fury of the 1859 storm. There have been far more near misses, of course.

Two massive solar storms appearing four days apart in the late summer of 1859 gave “the week the sun touched the earth” its name. The first one reached here Aug. 28, and the second one Sept. 1.