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Solar Storms facts

While investigating facts about Solar Storms, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The solar storm of 1859 caused worldwide electrical failure, with telegraph systems being knocked out, some throwing sparks and shocking operators. This event, if it occured today, would cause trillions in damages.

A solar storm like the Carrington Event in 1859 would cause devastation to world electronics if it happened today.

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Solar Storms I managed to collect.

  1. Concorde flew so high passengers received twice the dose of radiation from flying in a conventional aircraft, which was believed to increase cancer risk. The flight deck contained a radiometer so they could descend in case of a solar storm.

  2. Ancient solar storms can be detected in tree rings

  3. The biggest solar storms in history was recorded in 1989. The storm was so massive that the Northern Lights could be seen in southern states like Florida

  4. NASA is creating an "interstellar internet", called Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN). It can transmit information through solar storms, solar flares, and even past planets without losing any original data. It successfully sent images to a spacecraft located 20 million miles from earth.

  5. There was a massive solar storm in 1859 that sparked fires in telegraph offices. Were a storm of that size to hit today, it would knock out power grids for months or longer.

  6. A solar super storm on July 23 2012 missed Earth by just 9 days. If it had hit, as one did in 1859, it would have sent us back to the 18th century overnight, rendering our electrical systems inoperable (incl. satellites).

  7. An 1859 solar storm caused the Northern Lights/Aurora Borealis to be seen as far south as Cuba

  8. In 1859 the most powerful recorded solar storm shocked telegraph operators through their machines and set their papers on fire.

solar storms facts
What are the best facts about Solar Storms?

Solar Storms data charts

For your convenience take a look at Solar Storms figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.

solar storms fact data chart about Declining solar wind speed after a geomagnetic super storm t
Declining solar wind speed after a geomagnetic super storm that resulted in aurora as far south as Texas

What is true about solar storms?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

In 1859 there was a solar storm so powerful it shut down telegraph systems in North America and Europe. Aurora's stretched as far as the Caribbean.

In 1859 the largest solar storm on record, the Carrington Event, would devastate modern technology, and caused the northern lights to be seen as far south as Cuba - source

A massive solar storm (Coronal Mass Ejection) has enough momentum to remove dust on the moon - source

On 23rd June 2012 there was a massive solar storm that, had it occured 9 days later, would have hit Earth and caused up to $2.6 trillion dollars damage in the US alone and taken 4-10 years to recover from.

When solar storms erupt on the surface of the Sun, the aurora is very strong and extends further away from the Earth's poles.

The biggest storm in our Solar System's history occurred on Saturn and raged over six months to encircle the entire planet

The pressure in the exosphere is created by solar wind storms that compress it.

In 1967, at the height of the Cold War, a Solar Storm jammed U.S. Radars leading the Air Force to believe that The Soviets were attacking America. Scientists explained what happend to the US Government just in time before it launched a counter-attack.

If the solar storm of 2012 had hit Earth, the resulting damage would have cost $2.6 trillion, and it would have taken four to ten years to recover.

Interesting facts about solar storms

In 1859, Earth was hit by a solar storm that was three times as large as the strongest once since then, knocking out telegraphs in the United States and Europe.

THEMIS--Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms--satellites "found evidence of magnetic ropes connecting Earth's upper atmosphere directly to the sun." Scientists believe "solar wind particles flow...along" the ropes giving "energy for geomagnetic storms and auroras."

If the Solar Storm of 1859 were repeated today, it would cost the US alone up to $2.9 trillion in damage to electrical equipment. A repeat missed earth by 9 days in 2012.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is shrinking. The solar system’s most well known storm once could fit three Earths inside of it. Now it could only fit one.

In 1967, a solar storm interrupted global radio communications, nearly sparking a nuclear retaliation by the USA against the USSR over suspicions that the interruption was actually due to intentional Soviet radar jamming.

A solar storm in 1967 nearly started a nuclear war by knocking out all 3 of the USA's ballistic missile early warning systems

Coronal mass ejections, in which intense electromagnetic bursts of energy from the sun reach earth, seriously damaging electronics; had the Solar Storm of 2012 occurred just 9 days earlier, it would have caused almost $2.5 trillion worth of damage

During the solar storm known as the Carrington Event in 1859, telegraph operators in different states were able to communicate using only the current induced to the wires from the atmosphere itself

Severe solar storms in 1989 caused a massive blackout in Quebec, shut down the Toronto stock exchange, and triggered Cold War fears of a nuclear attack.

About the Carrington Event, a solar storm so powerful it culminated as northern lights as far South as Cuba, and southern lights as far north as Queensland, AU.

During the Carrington event (Solar Storm of 1859) the Aurora it caused were so bright they woke gold miners in the colorado rockies and disabled telegraph lines in europe.

In 1984, President Reagen and Air Force One were inaccessible while flying to Japan. Air Force One had all flight communications severed for a few hours due to a solar storm that affected the aircraft.

During the solar storm of 1859, aurorae were visible as far south as the Caribbean, and as far from the poles as Cuba and Hawaii. People over the Rocky Mountains mistook the aurora for daylight and so began preparing breakfast.

Saturn has a storm at its pole and it has a Hexagon shape- Saturn's Hexagon in Motion | Saturn – Solar System Exploration: NASA Science

In 1859 here was a solar storm that fried the telegraph system, if it occurred today it would cost $2.6 Trillion to repair

A solar storm powerful enough to cause auroras as far south as Cuba barely missed Earth by a week in July 2012

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Solar Storms. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Solar Storms so important!

Editor Veselin Nedev Editor