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The Carrington Event of September 1859, the strongest solar storm on record, spread auroras as far south as Cuba and made telegraph equipment spark. On the line between Boston and Portland, operators unplugged their batteries and kept sending messages for two hours on the storm's current alone.

Boston and Portland, September 1859

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On 1 September 1859 the English astronomer Richard Carrington was sketching sunspots at his observatory in Redhill, Surrey, when two patches of intense white light flared up on the Sun. He and another observer, Richard Hodgson, made the first recorded sightings of a solar flare. About 17 hours later a cloud of charged particles from the Sun struck Earth's magnetic field, driving electric currents through long telegraph wires. The Boston and Portland operators' exchange was reported in the press: working without batteries, one wrote that the line was 'better than with our batteries on'. On 23 July 2012 a storm of similar size crossed Earth's orbit where Earth had been about nine days earlier. A direct hit today could damage satellites and power grids, which is why forecasters still plan for 'another Carrington'.

Türkçe oku
Eylül 1859'daki Carrington Olayı, kayıtlara geçmiş en güçlü güneş fırtınasıdır: Kutup ışıkları Küba'ya kadar görüldü, telgraf aletleri kıvılcım saçtı. Boston ile Portland arasındaki hatta telgrafçılar pilleri söktü ve iki saat boyunca yalnızca fırtınanın yarattığı akımla mesaj göndermeyi sürdürdü.
Boston ve Portland, Eylül 1859

1 Eylül 1859'da İngiliz gökbilimci Richard Carrington, Surrey'deki Redhill'de bulunan gözlemevinde güneş lekelerini çizerken Güneş'in üzerinde iki noktada göz kamaştırıcı beyaz bir ışık parladı. Carrington ile bir başka gözlemci, Richard Hodgson, bir güneş patlamasını gördüğünü kayda geçiren ilk kişiler oldu. Yaklaşık 17 saat sonra Güneş'ten kopan elektrik yüklü parçacık bulutu Dünya'nın manyetik alanına çarptı ve uzun telgraf tellerinde elektrik akımı oluşturdu. Boston ile Portland arasındaki telgrafçıların yazışması dönemin basınında yer aldı: Pilsiz çalışan telgrafçılardan biri, hattın “pillerimiz takılıyken olduğundan daha iyi” çalıştığını yazdı. 23 Temmuz 2012'de benzer büyüklükte bir fırtına, Dünya'nın yaklaşık dokuz gün önce bulunduğu noktadan geçti. Böyle bir fırtına bugün Dünya'yı doğrudan vursa uydulara ve elektrik şebekelerine zarar verebilir; uzay havasını izleyenlerin hâlâ “yeni bir Carrington”a hazırlıklı olmaya çalışmasının nedeni bu.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Carrington Event
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