The solar superstorm of 1859

A massive solar flare on September 1, 1859 “caused the most potent disruption of Earth’s ionosphere in recorded history”.

Within hours, telegraph wires in both the United States and Europe spontaneously shorted out, causing numerous fires, while the Northern Lights, solar-induced phenomena more closely associated with regions near Earth’s North Pole, were documented as far south as Rome, Havana and Hawaii, with similar effects at the South Pole.

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