Two massive solar storms appearing four days apart in the late summer of 1859 gave “the week the sun touched the earth” its name. The first one reached here Aug. 28, and the second one Sept. 1.

This story appears in the June 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine. On Thursday, September 1, 1859, a 33-year-old brewer and amateur astronomer named Richard Carrington climbed the stairs ...

The solar event was named after Richard Carrington, and it remains the most intense geomagnetic storm ever recorded. On September 1, 1859, Richard Carrington, an English amateur astronomer, witnessed ...

Scientists have uncovered the most powerful solar storm ever, ... The infamous Carrington Event of 1859, often cited as the worst-case scenario for solar storms, was not a particle storm.

That solar storm was the most powerful one ever recorded. The next strongest was the 1859 Carrington Event. It was spurred by a huge solar flare that triggered a powerful geomagnetic storm on Earth.

In 1859, a severe solar storm triggered auroras as far south as Hawaii and caught telegraph lines on fire in a rare event. And a 1972 solar storm may have detonated magnetic U.S. sea mines off the ...

In 1859, a severe solar storm triggered auroras as far south as Hawaii and caught telegraph lines on fire in a rare event. And a 1972 solar storm may have detonated magnetic U.S. sea mines off the ...