Daily ForecastRio Rancho, New Mexico· as of 6:49 AM UTC

When The Sun Attacked Earth And Fried Telegraphs

August 1859. Floridians saw bright red and green auroras and thought the swamps were on fire. Days later, astronomer Richard Carrington spotted a massive white flash from the Sun at 11 AM. Seventeen hours later, the sky lit up so bright at 1 AM that gold miners made breakfast thinking it was morning. Telegraph systems surged with electricity, shocking operators unconscious. The Carrington Event: the biggest solar storm ever recorded. The Sun vomited electrified gas at 2 million mph, slamming Earth's magnetic field. If it happened today, satellites, power grids, and GPS could be fried for months. NOAA's GOES satellites now watch the Sun 24/7, wearing literal "sunglasses" to survive outside Earth's protective magnetic field.

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