I have been reading Stuart Clark's new book, The Sun Kings (Cambridge Press), regarding the life of Richard Carrington. Central to the book are two massive solar flares: the Halloween Flare of Oct. 30, 2003 and the mega-flare of Sept. 2, 1859. I captured the Halloween Flare of Oct. 30, 2003 on film; the image can be seen in my Utah Astrogallery folder: http://www.utahastronomy.com/kurt/CME486_001 The great flare of Sept. 2, 1859 was on a much larger scale. Auoral displays covered the entire northern and southern hemispheres down to 10 degrees latitude. Telegraph wires transmitted induced currents that burned out, and in some cases, set on fire, telegraph stations. One telegraph operator in Pennsylvannia was electrocuted and knocked unconscious. Magnetic interference rendered the global telegraph network inoperable for days. The significance of the great flare has to be understood in the context of the times. In the mid-1800s, the nature of the Sun was still unknown. Prevailing scientific theories included that the heat of the Sun was generated by gravitational collapse of a rocky solid body. Sunspots were still thought to be mountain peaks sticking up through a luminensicent solar atmosphere. The great flare of 1859 was observed by English observers Carrington and Hodgson. It marked the beginning of modern solar astronomy. Clark's book inspired me to check the Deseret News weekly for the edition immediately after September 2, 1859. The following is the published report of W.W. Phelps, described as the "Metrological Observatory Superintendent". http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/ ========================== Desert News Weekly Ed. Sept. 7, 1859 Northern Lights by W.W. Phelps, Sup. Met. Obs. On Sunday evening, the 28th utl., a beautiful display of aurora borealis, or northern lights was observed in this city between 9 and 10 p.m.; a palish light wavered up about 30 degrees towards the zenith, giving the "Great Bear" or "Dipper" quite a silver hue; thence it began to spread east and west with increasing grandeur, till about 11, when the perpendicular waves, streams, rays of light, moving consecutively from the North Star east and west, beautified a large portion of the northern hemisphere. A few masses of floating, fleecy (sonder) clouds were gorgeously decorated with a splendor not easily described. The light, about 20 degrees above the horizon, decreasing upward and downward, so that, at nearly midway to the zneith, the scene chagned into a fine yellow-green, which was joined by a rich livery of crimson or red, spanning the whole heavens from east to west, several degrees wide, as the great red belt of the North. This magnificent phenomenon, in varying hues, beautifies and fashions among the sombre and fall clouds, continued to give the science of meterorology nimble specimens of the light fire-works of heaven, till about one in the morning. Again, on the evening of the 1st and morning of the 2nd inst., was displayed the inimitable phantasma-glory of the whole heavens. The aurora borealis, a little after midnight, had spread from north to south, from east to west, in grand divisions of pale light, mellow yellow, light crimson, and sable green. Once, the light formed a grand cross, north and south and east and west, curved to a horizontal parallax. I could tell the time of night on my watch by its light. There was beautiful center, equally rayed near the zenith. Much of the time, the sky was overcast with fall clouds, and the variegated colors which softly tinged the homogeneous, rolling masses were too beautiful and sublime for plain English. At times, the southern hemisphere began with pale red at the zenith and shade after shade faded down to a dark orange horizon, while the northern hemisphere glowed with yellow and green, as the light, east and west, peeped through the jaggled cloud holes, as if the 'upper deep' was an [h]ising-glass globe lantern. I viewed this grand scene till past 2 a.m. and went to bed, double impressed that Jehovah can show signs and wonders yet. Also, on the evening of the third, about 8, while a thunder shower was rising south-westerly, a faint light sprung up in the east, and continued to rise till the summit was about 45 degrees high and resembled faint northern lights. After the shower, which began at a quarter to 9 and continued 15 minutes, affording about 1.4 of an inch of water, it glowed beautifully. This singular "lesser twilight" grew fainter from ten till it disappeared a little after midnight. A "sign in the east" according to custom, should take the cognomen of aurora orientalis, or eastern lights. ================= _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net