2023-06-28 04:00:12
In 1859, a solar storm of unprecedented intensity struck our planet. This event, named after the British astronomer Richard Carrington, was the consequence of a series of sunspots which Carrington observed with great attention.
Sketch by Richard Carrington of a ‘monster’ sunspot in 1859 superimposed on a real image of the Sun (The Sun (Sol in Latin, Helios or Ήλιος in Greek) is the star…) taken by the Solar Dynamic Observatory of NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“National Administration of…)
Crédit: Richard Carrington/ NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory/ SpaceWeather.com
These sunspots, gigantic dark areas with very high magnetic energy, eventually led to the creation of the first solar flare .) recorded. The solar storm that followed caused fires at telegraph offices (The telegraph (from the Greek τηλε telé, far and…) and produced the northern lights visible as far as Cuba and Hawaii (Hawaii or Hawaii (in Hawaiian: Hawai’i; in English: Hawaii) is a…).
Observations of sunspots are a key indicator of the Sun’s electromagnetic activity, which follows an 11-year cycle. The more sunspots there are, and the larger they are, the closer the Sun is to its solar maximum, a period when solar weather phenomena, such as flares and mass ejections (The term mass is used to refer to two quantities attached to a…) coronal, become more frequent.
Carrington had recorded the sunspots he had observed in sketches. He had estimated that their collective size was comparable to that of Jupiter. He wasn’t wrong: a reassessment in 2019 revealed that the spots occupied between 9% and 14% of the width of the disk (The word disk is used, both in geometry and in everyday life, to designate a.. .) solar (10% for Jupiter).
SpaceWeather.com created this composite image of the Carrington Sunspot (top) and the largest sunspot in modern history (bottom), from 2003. The two spots are roughly equal in size.
Credit: Richard Carrington/NASA/SpaceWeather.com
Although sunspots of this size are rare, they are not unprecedented. In 2003, a similar sunspot was observed just before the most powerful solar flare of the modern era. Fortunately, the ensuing coronal mass ejection only brushed Earth and did no major damage.
Since the start of 2023, sunspot activity has increased sharply, exceeding NASA predictions. However, no spot the size of Carrington’s has yet been observed. Despite this, the next solar maximum could be stronger and arrive earlier than expected. Scientists continue to monitor the Sun, ready for any eventuality.
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