Simulating the Sun's Worst Storms

From Sept. 1 to 2, 1859, the Earth's magnetosphere - which is trapped by the Earth's magnetic field and envelopes the planet like an invisible atmospheric cocoon - was hit by a coronal mass ejection (CME), a massive blast from the sun containing highly charged gases and plasma. The material in the blast may have weighed as much as a billion tons and raced through the solar system at several million miles per hour.

The resulting temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere, known as a geomagnetic storm, set skies ablaze all over the world with technicolor auroras that reached as far south as Cuba and El Salvador, and blew out global telegraph systems, the high-tech communication devices of the day.

Visit Website >

Image credit: John Clyne, NCAR/CISL, copyright University Corporation for Atmospheric Research 2002