The Carrington Solar Flares of 1859: Consequences on Life

Müller, C.

doi:10.1007/s11084-014-9368-3

Cited by 19 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…The largest known solar flare was the Carrington event in AD 1859 (refs 1 , 2 ). This flare and the associated coronal mass ejection were so large that they caused world-wide auroras and allowed telegraphs to operate on the currents induced by the accompanying geomagnetic storm 3 . As we have no X-ray measurements of the Carrington event, it is not clear how large it was compared with the largest flares observed during the space age, which are classified according to their peak X-ray flux.…”

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confidence: 99%

Observational evidence for enhanced magnetic activity of superflare stars

et al. 2016

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Superflares are large explosive events on stellar surfaces one to six orders-of-magnitude larger than the largest flares observed on the Sun throughout the space age. Due to the huge amount of energy released in these superflares, it has been speculated if the underlying mechanism is the same as for solar flares, which are caused by magnetic reconnection in the solar corona. Here, we analyse observations made with the LAMOST telescope of 5,648 solar-like stars, including 48 superflare stars. These observations show that superflare stars are generally characterized by larger chromospheric emissions than other stars, including the Sun. However, superflare stars with activity levels lower than, or comparable to, the Sun do exist, suggesting that solar flares and superflares most likely share the same origin. The very large ensemble of solar-like stars included in this study enables detailed and robust estimates of the relation between chromospheric activity and the occurrence of superflares.

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confidence: 99%

Observational evidence for enhanced magnetic activity of superflare stars

et al. 2016

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“…Arguably, the Carrington event in September 1859 is considered as one of the greatest magnetic storms in observational history, because of the extreme equatorward extension of its auroral oval and the magnetic disturbances at low latitudes (Tsurutani et al 2003;Cliver & Svalgaard 2004;Green & Boardsen 2006;Silverman 2006;Siscoe, Crooker & Clauer 2006;Cliver & Dietrich 2013;Lakhina & Tsurutani 2016;Hayakawa et al 2016aHayakawa et al , 2018d. Indeed, the Carrington storm even caused a serious disturbance in the low technology telegraph systems of North America and Western Europe (Boteler 2006;Muller 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occurrence of great magnetic storms on 6–8 March 1582

Hattori

Hayakawa

Ebihara

2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Although knowing the occurrence frequency of severe space weather events is important for a modern society, it is insufficiently known due to the lack of magnetic or sunspot observations, before the Carrington event in 1859 known as one of the largest events during the last two centuries. Here, we show that a severe magnetic storm occurred on 8 March 1582 based on auroral records in East Asia. The equatorward boundary of auroral visibility reached 28.8° magnetic latitude. The equatorward boundary of the auroral oval is estimated to be 33.0° invariant latitude (ILAT), which is comparable to the storms on 25/26 September 1909 (~31.6° ILAT, minimum Dst of −595 nT), 28/29 August 1859 (~36.5° ILAT), and 13/14 March 1989 (~40° ILAT, minimum Dst of −589 nT).Assuming that the equatorward boundary is a proxy for the scale of magnetic storms, we presume that the storm on March 1582 was severe. We also found that the storm on March 1582 lasted, at least, for three days by combining European records. The auroral oval stayed at mid-latitude for the first two days and moved to low-latitude (in East Asia) for the last day. It is plausible that the storm was caused by a series of ICMEs (interplanetary coronal mass ejections). We can reasonably speculate that a first ICME could have cleaned up interplanetary space to make the following ICMEs more geo-effective, as probably occurred in the Carrington and Halloween storms.

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“…Note that the term “space weather event” involves different physical phenomena, which in some cases might be or might not be related, such as solar flare, solar energetic particle event, coronal mass ejection, geomagnetic sudden storm commencement, geomagnetic storm, and ionospheric disturbance. The Carrington solar event caused an extremely strong magnetic disturbance (Nevanlinna, ; Siscoe et al, ; Tsurutani et al, ), unusual extent of auroral displays (Green et al, ; Green & Boardsen, ; Kimball, ; Silverman, ), and disruptions in the telegraph systems in Europe and North America (Boteler, ; Muller, ). Green and Boardsen () plotted the auroral observations, finding the equatorward boundary as ∼18° in magnetic latitude (MLAT) on 2/3 September 1859.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of Low‐Latitude Red Aurora in Mexico During the 1859 Carrington Geomagnetic Storm

González-Esparza

Cuevas-Cardona

2018

Space Weather

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One of the most intense geomagnetic storm that has been documented in recent history occurred on 1 September 1859. This storm is known as the Carrington Event. In the morning of 1 September at around 11:15 UT, Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson observed in England, independently and for the first time, an intense white light solar flare. About 17 hr after this solar event, there occurred the strongest geomagnetic perturbation ever recorded as well as a greatly extended red aurora, which covered unusually at low latitudes. The red auroral display on 2 September was reported in regions where this kind of phenomena is very rare, like in Cuba and Hawaii. Until now however, it was not known to scientists that the low‐latitude red aurora is also registered in Mexico. At that time, Mexico was in a civil war, and there were very difficult conditions in where to establish astronomical and magnetic observatories. Nevertheless, the geomagnetic storm was observed with a maximum intensity between 7:00 and 8:00 UTC and was reported to a Mexican newspaper from five different locations (Mexico City, Querétaro, Guadalajara, Hidalgo, and Guanajuato) and registered also from at least in two additional sites (Michoacán and San Luis Potosí) in other historical documents. These records confirm that the Carrington geomagnetic storm was a global event with planetary repercussions, and that the Mexican low‐latitude region is susceptible to significant effects associated with intense space weather events.

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The Carrington Solar Flares of 1859: Consequences on Life

Cited by 19 publications

References 21 publications

Observational evidence for enhanced magnetic activity of superflare stars

Observational evidence for enhanced magnetic activity of superflare stars

Occurrence of great magnetic storms on 6–8 March 1582

Observations of Low‐Latitude Red Aurora in Mexico During the 1859 Carrington Geomagnetic Storm

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