19th Century Apocalypse — The Carrington Event,On the night of August 29th, 1859 a strange eve

19th Century Apocalypse — The Carrington Event,On the night of August 29th, 1859 a strange event occurred across the world that has terrible ramifications for modern civilization today.  On that night all over the world the sky was filled with a bright crimson light that was so illuminating that people awoke early thinking it was morning. People living in Boston could read the newspaper even in midnight.  The northern lights were reported to stretch as far south as Cuba and Jamaica.  Weirder still was the strange occurrences of world’s few electronic devices.  Across the globe telegraph devices went haywire, some erupting in a shower of sparks, some painfully shocking their operators.  For over two days the world telegraph network was disrupted and telegraph operators could not send any messages uninterrupted.  As the disruption began to clear, telegraph operators discovered that they could transmit messages after unplugging their batteries, powering their machines using auroral current alone for 60 - 90 second periods at a time.For many the events of August 29th/Sept. 1st was a sign of the apocalypse.  However, there was a rational explanation for the mysterious phenomenon.  On the morning of Sept. 1st, amateur astronomer Richard Carrington pointed his telescope into the heavens and witnessed an incredible sight.  The sun was speckled with various dark spots, from which erupted massive solar flares.  As a result of his observations, the phenomenon became known as “The Carrington Event”, and what we now know as a solar storm.The Carrington Event is the first observed solar storm recorded in history and the first recorded example of a solar storm disrupting electrical equipment. After studying ice core samples from the arctic and antarctic, scientists conclude that The Carrington Event was the largest solar storm in the past 500 years.  While the Carrington event occurred over a century and a half ago, the ramifications of it could have dire consequences today.  According to the National Academy of Sciences, if a similar event occurred today it could easily disrupt  the worlds electrical and communications grid for over a year, costing a total of $1-$2 trillion in damages and resulting in devastating social upheaval.   -- source link

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