Uncovering the True Scale of History's Largest Solar Storm, The Carrington Event

The Carrington Event, the most powerful solar storm on record in 1859, caused greater disruption to Earth's magnetic field than previously estimated, according to new research. Modern digital tracing and detailed reconstruction of records from the time revealed the event's magnitude, highlighting the potential vulnerability of modern society to similar occurrences. The study, published in Space Weather, utilized digitized magnetogram records to calculate the rate of change in the Earth's magnetic field during the event, supporting the original 1861 estimates and confirming the Carrington storm as an extreme event.