The Carrington Event

You know that scene in every disaster movie, where the frantic and panicky science nerd unsuccessfully tries to warn the powers that be that something terrible is about to happen?

In this episode, we explore a historic storm of cosmic proportions, which, if it happened today, experts say could turn out to be a disaster the likes of which our modern world has never seen. So…how do you prepare for a disaster that always seems incredibly far away… until it’s not?

Writings of Richard Carrington (1826-1875), the English astronomer

In late summer of 1859, amateur astronomer Richard Carrington was making observations of the sun when he saw a bright flash of light. Solar flares are common on the sun, but this one was especially powerful, as Noe Lugaz of the Space Science Center at the University of New Hampshire explains:

“Typically, there are flares, large emission of light from the sun - every day. But they are mostly visible in the UV and X-ray vision so unless you have an extra filter, which at the time people didn’t have.  But this one was so bright that you actually see it in the emission of the sun, just like a light bulb exploding, so it’s something you [could see] with the naked eye without any equipment.” 

What followed, over the next few nights, were some of the most brilliant and perplexing displays of the Northern Lights ever documented. Newspapers and weather observers described brilliant auroras from Canada to Cuba, from Japan to Australia. This peculiar display is what we now call, “The Carrington Event.”

Loomis, Elias (November 1859). "The Great Auroral Exhibition of August 28 to September, 1859". The American Journal of Science. 2nd series. 28: 385–408.

The Aurora Borealis, as seen from space. [Credit: ESA/NASA]

Today we understand that the Carrington Event was caused by a CME, or coronal mass ejection. These solar explosions send particles flying out into space and are very common. However, very large CMES that strike the Earth can have all sorts of impacts on modern technology that weren’t around when Carrington was alive - namely GPS, radio signals, satellites, and electrical grids.

Scientists have warned that the impact from a “Carrington-Level CME” could be catastrophic for the United States. But, as society has recently discovered with the Covid-19 pandemic, preparing for inevitable but rare disasters is a complicated business.

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Credits

Outside/In was produced this week by Taylor Quimby and Sam Evans-Brown, with Justine Paradis.

Erika Janik is our executive producer.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Ari De Niro

Special thanks to our remote voice actors for this episode: Sean Hurley, Jason Moon, Emily Quirk, Nick Capodice, and Daniela Allee

If you’ve got a question for our Ask Sam hotline, give us a call! We’re always looking for rabbit holes to dive down into. Leave us a voicemail at: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). Don’t forget to leave a number so we can call you back.