What Was the Carrington Event? - The Most Powerful Solar Storm on Record

In 1859, the Sun gave off the most powerful solar flare on record. A blast of radiation and particles so strong it fried electrical wires and set telegraph towers on fire.
What would happen if a solar storm of this magnitude happened today? It would be a very bad day indeed.
Support us at: / universetoday
More stories at: www.universetoday.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @universetoday
Like us on Facebook: / universetoday
Google+ - plus.google.com/+universetoday/
Instagram - / universetoday
Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / [e-mail]
Karla Thompson - @karlaii
Chad Weber - [e-mail]
Isn’t modern society great? With all this technology surrounding us in all directions. It’s like a cocoon of sweet, fluffy silicon. There are chips in my fitness tracker, my bluetooth headset, mobile phone, car keys and that’s just on my body.
At all times in the Cain household, there dozens of internet devices connected to my wifi router. I’m not sure how we got to the point, but there’s one thing I know for sure, more is better. If I could use two smartphones at the same time, I totally would.
And I’m sure you agree, that without all this technology, life would be a pale shadow of its current glory. Without these devices, we’d have to actually interact with each other. Maybe enjoy the beauty of nature, or something boring like that.
It turns out, that terrible burning orb in the sky, the Sun, is fully willing and capable of bricking our precious technology. It’s done so in the past, and it’s likely to take a swipe at us in the future.
I’m talking about solar storms, of course, tremendous blasts of particles and radiation from the Sun which can interact with the Earth’s magnetosphere and overwhelm anything with a wire.
In fact, we got a sneak preview of this back in 1859, when a massive solar storm engulfed the Earth and ruined our old timey technology. It was known as the Carrington Event.
Follow your imagination back to Thursday, September 1st, 1859. This was squarely in the middle of the Victorian age.
And not the awesome, fictional Steampunk Victorian age where spectacled gentleman and ladies of adventure plied the skies in their steam-powered brass dirigibles.
No, it was the regular crappy Victorian age of cholera and child labor. Technology was making huge leaps and bounds, however, and the first telegraph lines and electrical grids were getting laid down.
Imagine a really primitive version of today’s electrical grid and internet.
On that fateful morning, the British astronomer Richard Carrington turned his solar telescope to the Sun, and was amazed at the huge sunspot complex staring back at him. So impressed that he drew this picture of it.
While he was observing the sunspot, Carrington noticed it flash brightly, right in his telescope, becoming a large kidney-shaped bright white flare.
Carrington realized he was seeing unprecedented activity on the surface of the Sun. Within a minute, the activity died down and faded away.
And then about 5 minutes later. Aurora activity erupted across the entire planet. We’re not talking about those rare Northern Lights enjoyed by the Alaskans, Canadians and Northern Europeans in the audience. We’re talking about everyone, everywhere on Earth. Even in the tropics.
In fact, the brilliant auroras were so bright you could read a book to them.
The beautiful night time auroras was just one effect from the monster solar flare. The other impact was that telegraph lines and electrical grids were overwhelmed by the electricity pushed through their wires. Operators got electrical shocks from their telegraph machines, and the telegraph paper lit on fire.
What happened? The most powerful solar flare ever observed is what happened.
A solar flare occurs because the Sun’s magnetic field lines can get tangled up in the solar atmosphere. In a moment, the magnetic fields reorganize themselves, and a huge wave of particles and radiation is released.
Flares happen in three stages. First, you get the precursor stage, with a blast of soft X-ray radiation. This is followed by the impulsive stage, where protons and electrons are accelerated off the surface of the Sun. And finally, the decay stage, with another burp of X-rays as the flare dies down.
These stages can happen in just a few seconds or drag out over an hour.
Remember those particles hurled off into space? They take several hours or a few days to reach Earth and interact with our planet’s protective magnetosphere, and then we get to see beautiful auroras in the sky.
This geomagnetic storm causes the Earth’s magnetosphere to jiggle around, which drives charges through wires back and forth, burning out circuits, killing satellites, overloading electrical grids.

[@deannalynn909]

I was never taught about this event when I was in school! How much wiser and more prepared would we be - as a nation - if we knew HOW to prepare for an event with such as this?

[@data4790]

You where never taught for a specific reason....

[@justcallmelucky]

@@data4790 ...continue

[@hidof9598]

@@data4790 , which is?

[@barupens8141]

The government and tech companies already know :)

[@barupens8141]

@@hidof9598 he is useless to society? I mean what good has it if a mc donalds worker knows?

[@kruzerblade4740]

Narrator: *talks about potentially catastrophic Solar storm* Also Narrator: *inserts chill music while describing it*

[@ifyouloveChristyouwillobeyhim]

Would you prefer horrifying music?

[@johndiezel5781]

I saw that flare event back in March of '89. It was a red-ish pink aurora flare lighting up two thirds of the sky, and then for a few long seconds it flared up 360 degrees around the whole sky, with a perfect dark center in the middle of the sky. It was wild, mystical, and absolutely beautiful. I didn't think it could be possible to go a full 360 degrees, not fully understanding what aurora was at that time. When I would try to tell people what I saw, most thought I was BSing them or that I gone off the deep end. I was not aware of the magnitude of that event and that it actually took the Quebec grid down for 12 hrs. Thank you for mentioning it in this video, as it all makes sense now...

[@give_peas_a_chance]

I saw the 1989 flare, in th UK. I was living off-grid in a caravan in a field on top of a hill. The aurora was beautiful, all over the sky. I assumed it was the Aurora Borelis, as you can very occasionally see that from parts of the UK. My partner at the time, who had a somewhat nervous disposition, thought the world was ending ! We didn't have TV or radio in those days, so didn't have a clue what the cause was.

[@morbid1.]

as extreme introverted person I'm so glad I can talk with people over internet

[@frasercain]

All hail the internet!

[@switzerlandful]

@@frasercain Dude, you should interview Sebastian Junger. He studied the native North American tribes. They knew how to survive off the land more efficiently than the pilgrims. He wrote the book *_Perfect Storm_* and *_Tribe_* (one of which i guess became a big screen film),

[@stevenholmes5905]

Try harder introverts label not a disease. Speaking from experience

[@thefurbyman]

Imagine China, Russia, USA or some country getting freaked out to the point where it launches a nuclear attack 🤔 Now that would be the cherry on the pie 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@ZeddisDead]

@@switzerlandful did you read that book? How was it?

[@jipersson]

I were sitting there waiting, minding my own business just after dark, in the 10 foot waves beside a fishing trawler somewhat north of Faroe Island in the North Atlantic, in the dinghy we used to deliver fishing inspection crews to giant Russian trawlers to measure their nets and count their catch, when all of a sudden I saw a flash of light, I looked up and saw this giant green curtain in a breeze like structure waving beyond the horizon, truly amazing!

[@frasercain]

That sounds fantastic. You were well positioned away from city lights, so you must have gotten an amazing view.

[@pbshepherding47]

When I am on my boat on Prince William Sound I can see them also

[@davidleebls1874]

Clarification: Me My self & I

[@krinka1458]

I love his advice. "Find your favorite nature spot to explore" lol yeah ok. We're all going to be strolling around acting normal in a 2 trillion dollar blackout 😅

[@DaddyCaldwell]

I will 🤣

[@switzerlandful]

Wow... I didn't know that a Carrington class event happened in 2012. (All the hype then was the 2012 Dec21 thing)

[@cx3622]

it didn't happened. The wave missed us

[@antcorke4485]

I saw the Aurora Australis from Nelson New Zealand in 2001(ish). It was low on the horizon and glowed orange. At the time I thought that it was a large, distant forest fire.

[@wendyg8536]

I saw a red lightening flash off the coast of New Plymouth from Nelson

[@EricCharland]

I remember the event in Quebec you mentioned. I was watching The habs who were playing in Montreal. Even the radio was dead. The game continued with generators and they told the fans: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are alone." Worst part is it took a while to know what happened,.

[@frasercain]

Wow, I remember all the reporting on it, but we're on the West Coast. It must have been a scary to go through it.

[@EricCharland]

Not scary but i did miss the game tho.

[@yasarekin]

I recall the sun being under constant surveillance for such things and the ability to shut down the electrical grid entirely being a thing

[@frasercain]

Yeah, our ability to predict space weather is getting much better.

[@criksemauzuhlanya4653]

When I was a child, growing up in South Dakota, we saw the Aurora Borealis over our back pasture, North of our house in New Underwood, SD. My Dad was the high school science teacher, and I remember him telling me how rare this occurrence was. I was 10 years old at the time; I'm now 57 years old, and I have never again seen the Aurora with my own eyes.

[@frasercain]

Yeah, you should still see the occasional aurora in South Dakota. Put an app on your phone that lets you know when they're happening, and you should be able to see them once a year or so.

[@User-pp9jg]

This video is about to get a whole lot more views in December 2020..

[@anonymous3174]

Yep the recent flare made come here to show my boss

[@sunflowerheather7019]

It is now January 2021. The litany of hype about December 2020 was bunk.

[@Ozymandias1]

@@sunflowerheather7019 2020 was fed up with giving us more disasters.

[@JosephKulik2016]

​@@sunflowerheather7019 It may have turned out to be nothing but the point is that our civilization is so unprepared for this inevitable event. In 1983, in response to Reagan's war mongering, a group of social scientists published a paper that predicted that there would be "mass suicides" among the survivors of a nuclear war simply because people couldn't face a world with no electricity perhaps for years. And that was in 1983 !!! More important than the task of reconstructing our electronic world would be the psychological effect on the public of living with no electricity perhaps for months. How long could YOU handle a world with no electricity before YOU thought about ending it all ? ... [e-mail]

[@hyort3613]

@@JosephKulik2016 our civilisation is prepared for another flare, we can see it happening a day or so before it hits and prepare justly

[@hkguitar1984]

I live in Michigan and do remember the 1989 event vividly. The Norther Lights were so bright I woke up our entire family to view them. At one point during en exceptionally bright curtain of white and purple waves we all swear we could hear the sky crackle and sizzle. So amazing, all of us just stood there for almost 30 minutes slack-jawed.

[@someoneelse7629]

Aurora sometimes makes sounds, it is debated, but it really does, I have heard it.

[@SanDiego1905r]

So your over 100 years?

[@someoneelse7629]

@@SanDiego1905r 1989 is 32 years ago

[@sealifett8395]

@@someoneelse7629 The event was in the 1859

[@someoneelse7629]

@@sealifett8395 The Carrington one, yes, but I have Aurora Borealis overhead almost on a weekly basis, in the summer it is hard to see because the sun never sets, but I can hear it on my radios.

[@INUN0TAISHO]

First, 2012 almost-event. I remember getting the news on that one. It was immense. It would have taken down EVERYTHING. Think bank machines, gas pumps, the electrical grid, phones, the Internet, most modern car computers, and on and on. In the blink of an eye, we'd be back in the stone age, cut off from everything we take for granted today. Just think about that for a minute. I heard about it because I have friends at Fermilab. Their particle accelerator is like one big antenna for such events, and they were quaking in their boots about how close it had been. I was told, that we missed that devastating solar blow by ONE DAY. Had the explosion been turned a few degrees, Earth would have bathed in the solar output that would have killed all our technological pacifiers. Pretty sobering. As for the auroras, I've seen them. Usually in shades of green, pink or purple, but sometimes they are even white. The most incredible one was white, and when I looked straight up at it, it looked like a gigantic octopus with long arms slowly sweeping and twisting above me. It was mind-numbingly beautiful, and spanned the sky horizon to horizon. Words simply cannot describe how overwhelming it is to stand beneath a spectacle that moves in sinuous curves while being almost too big to get your brain around it. Of the many I've seen, they come in a variety of forms. Some are single "spears" of green that lance upward. I saw one formation that was an arc with three spears than resembled a glowing crown. Yet another is the "ribbon" or "curtain" shape. Some are "rivers" of color, painting the sky in neon green (from ionized oxygen) to rich pinks and purples. One distinctive aurora I saw was out over Lake Superior. It was a brilliant green aurora in the shape of an ovoid spiral hanging over a dark ore boat whose lights twinkled on the distant horizon. Lastly, I was in the midwest when the auroras hit in Illinois and lower Michigan and Wisconsin. They were dimmer, but still beautiful in all the colors from green to purple. Stunning!

[@crazydalmation4778]

Think about national security too, all comms are down

[@SunFeathers]

We need to ditch electricity

[@crazydalmation4778]

@@SunFeathers we've gotten to reliant

[@moomonster5942]

Thanks to you I have now " seen " the auroras ..... as for the other stuff , our leaders are to busy with corruption for planning.

[@Bazzawombat]

And it will happen again, to confound the wise, thats why I still have my old morse code key and signal mirror.

[@Yesica1993]

I heard this term mentioned for the first time and had to look it up. Thank you.

[@frasercain]

Oh great, thanks for watching.

[@macgyveratlarge2133]

Back in the early 2000s, I remember the sky being lit up like a giant glow stick. It was one hell of a light show. It took me a while to realize that it was the Aurora Borealis, and I was driving along the south end of Michigan. No colors except green. There were sheets of energy racing across the sky, just pulsing with incredible power.

[@bluefootedboobie1893]

I was driving back from Canada, near the border, and saw the same!

[@Uhmu]

We don't get an opportunity to rebuild and rethink large scale infrastructure that often. 2012 was a missed opportunity.

[@frasercain]

I wonder what the right response would be, though. Some kind of hardened infrastructure that can survive that scale of an event? I think 1989 was the wakeup call.

[@Uhmu]

If it had happened, we should not rebuild the grid in the scale we have it now, it's an expensive legacy solution. It would be an opportunity to move faster toward distributed energy production.

[@ColasTeam]

That would require moving metric butt-tons of paperwork and people tho. Bit optimistic to think it would be done on a global scale.

[@sissyrayself7508]

Oh trust me, when the time is right.. "they".. will try to pull it off.

[@bradsmithy4380]

Anyone seen the TV show "Revolution", where everything electronic turns off?

[@Added2034]

Yea but i have a better use of that idea

[@MusiCaninesTheMusicalDogs]

Nice soundtrack and awesome sarcasm at the beginning! 😂

[@frasercain]

Thanks!

[@Jaykurosakii]

It’s weird how this wasn’t in school and not much is online about it.

[@kiragoldy4615]

I only got to know about this yesterday when Fascinating Horror covered about the topic. More people should know about this to atleast prepare what they could.

[@AstroFocus]

Awesome! Didn't realise there was occurrences like this through history.

[@mattforbes7833]

AstroFocus Its probably one of the most likely global disasters possible. Scary.

[@frasercain]

Yeah, it was an epic event then, and would be scary today.

[@OrangeHeadTM]

@@frasercain ours is coming.

[@pax4698]

Woo, almost 100k subscribers! Keep up the good work Fraser.

[@frasercain]

Almost there...

[@lucianonarno1408]

First video I watched of yours. You seem really cool and content is top notch! Subscribed!

[@frasercain]

Thanks, welcome aboard!

[@kendomyers]

I remember I was living in Upstate New York when the solar flair hit Canada We were having band practice in my buddy's basement We stuck around for an hour waiting for the lights to come back on, when it didnt happen we drove out and it was like a movie Lights were off everywhere Traffic lights inoperable with citizens directing traffic in some places, cops in the more important I havnt thought of that in a while

[@jh61]

Some time in the early 90's in Fridley, (Minneapolis, MN) in the fall, maybe September or October 94 or 95, The dancing green bars dropped by, seemingly hovering and moving left and right and shimmering in towering columns, waxing and waning and changing color tones,,,just across the street . They looked somehow "big" and shone thru the City lights. Everyone in the house came running out on the back Deck, and with a 6 lane freeway buzzing 1/2 a mile away ......Then after 2 minutes,,, it was gone......

[@frasercain]

Incredible! It's such a treat to see them. Whenever there's aurora activity I go out and try to see them. We got really lucky about 2 years ago with the most insane auroras I've every seen.

[@malenyluna5275]

Sounds creepy and unnatural but who knows I've never seen one.

[@galaxia4709]

An excellent script and episode Fraser, especially loved it with the music in the second half! Bye, have a nice day!

[@frasercain]

Thanks!

[@tsarrite]

Love your delivery...Subbed.

[@JamieOrlando]

I saw a beautiful aurora event when I was living in Janesville WI in either 2011 or 2012. I remember using my telescope in the driveway looking at something near Cassiopeia and I thought the light pollution was really bad so I looked up from my telescope and I saw not only beautiful green curtains but also diffuse red glowing too. It was phenomenal! My only regret was not having a camera capable of capturing it with me.

[@truckcaptainstumpy1978]

+Jamie Orlando - *...so I looked up from my telescope and I saw not only beautiful green curtains but also diffuse red glowing too.* WOW i've never seen multi colours before! too bad you didn't have a camera for that one!

[@frasercain]

That sounds amazing. I've seen the red streaks across the sky, and green curtains on the horizon so far.

[@frankmarshal7767]

I grew up in Northern Saskatchewan. I saw Northern Lights often. I used to go to a local outdoor rink and play hockey under the northern lights. There's an old superstition (maybe it was local?) that if you whistled they would come down and choke you. I remember when I was really young I was afraid of them when I was walking home alone in the dark.

[@frasercain]

Wow, that's a pretty scary thing to freak out children with. :-0

[@malenyluna5275]

That's so trippy.

[@ElectroIsMyReligion]

Fraser love your channel! keep up the good work!

[@frasercain]

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it!

[@ShadeCandle]

Quebec without power for 12 hours? Hell, I remember the ice storm, when it was 2-3 weeks for most of us.

[@Dehavilland2000]

hey Fraser, could a solar event be powerful enough to temporarily (few seconds or so), power up unplugged electronics or would the circuits just fry?

[@frasercain]

The circuits would just fry. Electronics depend on very specific amps/volts to run properly. You're just going to get random amounts of electricity passing through them.

[@oceandrainer]

Used to see fantastic Auroras in Iqaluit, Nunavut where I used to live. They were exceedingly bright, but mostly green. I also see them almost every year here in Alberta and, while not quite as bright or wide as the Nunavut ones, are definitely more colourful: blues, whites and greens.

[@frasercain]

I've got to get up there some time. As soon as we published this episode, I started looking up prices to fly up there... very expensive. :-(

[@oceandrainer]

Indeed. I was fortunate enough that I worked for an airplane maintenance company, and my brother already lived up there. So I got free flights. :) I highly recommend a visit if you ever can though. It can get severely frigid, but there are honestly many days when where I live here in Southern Alberta is colder than Iqaluit. But they don't get chinooks. It was like +9 here today.

[@FollowingTheSon]

Choc full of good information. Thanks dude!

[@frasercain]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. :-)

[@marko11kram]

In the early 1970's, in the NY Hudson Valley we saw the aurora one night. It was awesome, (and as teenagers there was not much we would admit was awesome). It was winter, and our mom went out on the front step around I guess 8-9 PM, and called my sister and I out to look. In the NW - W sky there were shimmering 'rainfalls' of light. Over time, they slowly changed colors. Sometimes slowly, sometimes faster. Almost hypnotic. It was almost as if they had sound associated with them. We watched for about a half hour. Went back inside, and came back out around 10:30/11PM. They were still there, but not as brilliant. Something I'll always remember!

[@rickbrooks9242]

ok, you confirmed what I thought we saw in the early 70's driving on a dark highway between Boston, MA and Providence, RI. Faint, but definitely green waves in the sky for a few minutes. Swear it wasn't the drugs!!LOL!

[@micbite]

This is going to happen this Christmas

[@indigotae4980]

Fax

[@MissionaryInMexico]

I grew up near the Canadian border. Saw the northern lights on a regular basis. Here's something... On 9/11/2001 I was in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on business. Watched the towers get hit on TV. I was only a short distance away from the plane that passengers fought the hijackers and it hit the ground between Carlisle and Pittsburgh. On Nov 4th, 2003, I watched the sky turn red from the largest solar flare in recorded history. I was also in, you guessed it, Carlisle Pennsylvania for that event. I was listening to Art Bell live on his "Coast to Coast AM" radio show which had just started. I was on my way to Tennessee from New Jersey. I just stopped on the side of the interstate and took photos and video. Many other people also stopped on the side of the road, too. It was reported that the auroras were visible in 90% of the earth's land mass! Amazing! I developed melanoma about a year after that event. Cured, now though by God's Grace.

[@frasercain]

That's fantastic. People don't realize that even if you live fairly south, you can still see epic auroras. Especially now that we've got better space weather forecasting.

[@MissionaryInMexico]

Fraser Cain There is a website I check once every day or two, that keeps me informed on what the sun is doing, as well as meteor passes and some stellar events. It's become a HUGELY followed website. Go to www.spaceweather.com to check out what's going down on the sun. On days that I feel extremely tired or sick or just frustrated for no apparent reason, I go to SpaceWeather.com to confirm what I already suspect... The earth is being hit by protons and electrons from the sun. Now that we have officially entered "solar minimum" the solar flares that kept the Van Allen Belt (magnetosphere) "fluffed" up have literally gone away for a few years more. But meanwhile, coronal holes spouting solar wind at earth has taken the place of those CME's that can be dangerous to power grids and even life itself. With the Van Allen Belt not "vibrating" from constant contact with fast moving CME's (coronal mass ejections) from the sun, our magnetosphere is now very still, not offering us the protection that an agitated magnetosphere gives us. This makes us more open and susceptible to Gamma rays, Delta rays, and X-rays from other suns within or outside our galaxy. In 2012, the year I moved out of Saltillo, Coahuila Mexico to move further down to central Mexico, the earth was hit by several huge X-class solar flares during the last 11 year solar cycle that just ended last year. I knew something was up because my skin felt like it was burning for months. My house in Saltillo is over 7,500 feet in altitude, where there is little protection from the sun. After a few days, I looked on SpaceWeather.com and on Google and NASA and news sites for information about what caused my condition and fatigue. It was a multiple flare episode over several days. I was not surprised, that the sun had burped several X-20 class CME's right at the earth. That's what caused me to feel like my skin was burning all the time, and what sucked all my energy away from me for several weeks. The sun affects us more than we know... And many of us are more sensitive to the protons than others are.

[@SeniorAdrian]

Hi Cristos do you have any photos online from the sunset? I cant see any fotos photos online from that day.

[@malenyluna5275]

@@MissionaryInMexico This is so interesting and of course it must have an effect in us and not just electronics.

[@destinytroll1374]

I live in Alaska and there are AMAZING Aurora's here! Unfortunately I'm usually asleep for those since I tend to work 80-100 hours a week during the Winter when you can see them 😟

[@debbiebarnum3228]

I don't have any idea how old l was (l am 73 now) but when l was prob 5 or 6 years old we lived I Springfield, Missouri. My Dad always got up around 4 AM and He woke us all up to see the Northern lights. Looking out in t West it looked like the world was on fire. Well my Mom a d Be a d.a saw it and got scared and in frantic voices started shouting that it was the end of the world. I got so scared l ran back to bed and pulled the covers over my head. But l will be we forget those moments watching it and just see struck how beautiful it was.

[@C0deH0wler]

Fortunately, the massive Internet cables are fibre. And, anyone who uses fibre alot will be more lucky.

[@frasercain]

But the routers... those poor routers.

[@johnnyj540]

Won't do you any good without power.

[@rlwieneke]

everything with integrated circuit chips in you house, at work, in your car, that you carry would be fried. Those glass fiber cables would be a useless relic.

[@webmastercaribou7570]

No they wont, all electrknics will be destroyed.

[@Studio-62]

Fiber cables are merely bundles of glass filaments in which light is transmitted by bouncing off the sides, yes think of them as tubes. The light is pulsed using modulation techniques in common use, basically representing 1s and 0s. When the power goes out, the source of the light goes dead and the fibers go dark. If you have ever looked at the end of a fiber connection it is glowing red when the other end is plugged in to live electronics. Batteries, solar power and dynamos should still work if the innards of the equipment are not fried.

[@MarcusDBennett]

This feels very 2020 worthy

[@frasercain]

Wouldn't that be the icing on the cake.

[@ZeddisDead]

Indeed, some people hypothesize we're due for round TWO!

[@greenlover247]

Great stuff brother

[@brantdhill]

Driving across Saskatchewan in the late 1990s, there was the Hale-Bopp comet low on one horizon and a crescent moon low on the other. And stretching from one end of the firmament to the other were swirling, helical curtains of magenta - tinged with green on the bottom. I had to stop and gaze - my jaw almost to the ground. Even without a camera, the mental picture is still as vivid as ever.

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

I've only seen the Aurora Borealis once, and it was over the outer suburbs of Chicago. I'm pretty sure it was before 2015 as well, as I remember that it was too cloudy in 2015 to see anything. When I did see them, they were quite impressive, although they were solely green in color.

[@frasercain]

That sounds great. I finally saw some intense auroras this year in September.

[@truckcaptainstumpy1978]

Fraser Cain - i've been able to watch the northern lights on a couple of occasions: both times in Alaska it was like watching a surreal HD 3-d display of dancing ephemeral colours skitter and wash over the sky to the music of the wilderness as the wolves called back and forth ...i fully expected to be mugged by Enya or Tangerine Dream...

[@frasercain]

I can't wait to see a really good one. I've got an app on my phone now that warns me when it's happening.

[@calculon000]

I used to have a job in Alberta driving a small truck, and when I was on a Hotshot to Ft. McMurray during winter, I saw the northern lights *directly above me*. It was surreal having this unfathomably big wall of light going straight up for km into the sky pointed right at my head. My perception had trouble registering the depth of it. The Aurora always looks green in pictures but to me in real life it looks white, maybe a very, very pale green.

[@IRONMANAustralia]

_'Fraser Cain loved __-your-__ _*_everyone's_*_ comment'_ He who loves everyone loves no-one Fraser.

[@IRONMANAustralia]

Personally I wont be happy until we are a Type II Civilisation, and I have an app on my phone that can *_cause_* one to happen.

[@jebes909090]

IRONMANAustralia who does numba 2 work for!

[@MeatMachine69]

I've seen much more nature on KZbin than I ever could without technology like the internet

[@Chichimomma]

Your backdrop with the pine trees is so lovely❤

[@therealhelmholtz]

the sun: 🌞💨✨✨✨ everyone’s power: nope 👎 I’m out of here The Carrington Event: *_✨h e l o✨_*

[@anjumahmed6401]

I would love to witness that whatsoever it's effects will be! Waiting it to really happen desperately!

[@ChiChi-sw5iu]

I am here October 12, 2021. An article was published that this would directly hit earth soon.

[@Kroggnagch]

I just came here from your most recent video but I had to leave it because I have never heard of the Carrington Event, but I must know.

[@AlexS-oj8qf]

I need to download the internet to my computer lol I wonder how many cash it would take.

[@dakiletsplay16]

I mean, if it's like an emp there's a way to protect "some" electronic on some extend, but you clearly can't download the whole internet

[@rikvandenkerckhove9667]

A flare during only 1 minute? And aurora's 5 minutes later? There must be something wrong. Light and all electromagnetic radiation takes 8 minutes to get here, particles that will collide with our upper atmosphere to produce aurora's take at least 2 to 3 days to get here.

[@frasercain]

Right, but we're already accounting for the 8 minutes. When you see the flare on the Sun, it actually happened 8 minutes ago. Some of the particles come at close to the speed of light, others take a couple of days.

[@steviepools82]

mr cain love the channel thanks for your time

[@frasercain]

Thanks for the kind words. :-)

[@robertschlesinger1342]

Interesting and worthwhile video.

[@Snowy123]

I

[@frasercain]

Yay! Thanks for your support!

[@rayen_daadaa]

4:57 this soundtrack reminds me of Interstellar haha 😂😂

[@frasercain]

Or the copyright-free version of it. :-)

[@rayen_daadaa]

Makes sense ☺️👍

[@brucedunlap2036]

I remember the one in 1859. It almost stranded me in past. My flux capacitor got fried.

[@Steaphany]

I did get to see an Aurora here in North Texas around 2000, I forget the actual date, but returning from a business trip late at night allowed me to see greens and later a red sky to the North.

[@frasercain]

That sounds fantastic. Every time I see them, it's a different experience.

[@MicahScottKing]

Haha, it was a warning! As we put up our first electrical lines the sun sends a wave to burn them out... Good luck the next few years haha

[@frasercain]

We really don't know if we're prepared enough for a serious solar storm. I guess we'll find out the hard way.

[@sacredlandmusicrobinshaw8424]

there setting us up for an EMP attack...PRE-PROGRAMMING at its finest

[@bigstonez]

No emp attack. Another one is gonna happen this year and its gonna be beautiful

[@eyeheisenberg2278]

It is not pre-programing. Its history and science.

[@ajl2232]

What do you mean? You think it's man made? I know 5G is bad enough.

[@webchimp]

Imagine a Carrington level event tearing through a K2 level Dyson swarm.

[@diontaedaughtry974]

Thank you this was very insightful and informative 👍👍

[@ravagesoyjoy]

Must Buy Fiber optic Rifle scope...

[@Dadecorban]

In other news, I saw an optical illusion a few mornings ago that made a 6AM moon look like 2-3 moons superimposed over each other. The air was pretty cold and moist. Was pretty sweet.

[@frasercain]

Was there light clouds in the sky? Or were you seeing a moon dog?

[@Dadecorban]

Thanks Fraser. I'm glad you replied because I'm still not sure what this was. I will include a more detail overview below if you care to read. I looked into your moon dog angle and it doesn't seem to be what my corroborating witness and I observed. (my first thought was that my it was my eyes crapping out) To be more precise Fraser: 2-3 nearly full moons, (I think this was yesterday, so it was a waning gibbous, fairly full moon), overlapping each other diagonally. The moon was showing through a large clearing in the lightly cloud cover. The moon was probably at least 60 degrees above the horizon. The moon images were not blurry, but rather crisp. forum.cosmoquest.org/showthread.php?63580-Seeking-a-decent-optical-explanation-for-how-we-saw-2-crescent-moons-last-night&s=c0b8ba4ecc4551b91af538cf337fc9f5 Someone else explained something similar on the Cosmoquest forum (which I found coincidentally while writing this) Someone mentioned superior mirage and someone else mentioned Fressnel lensing effect. I think the guy who reported it on the forum left without a solid answer. 1. Temperature was about 20 degrees. 2. Lightly cloudy 3. There was a light ice storm two days before that quickly turned into more of a rain, so there was plenty of moisture in the air. 4. Kansas 5. 0600-0630 6. I asked two other people to come look at it, and one of them said they could see exactly what I was talking about, and the other said he couldn't see it. 7. Haven't done drugs in mont...years. (I really need to get a real phone with a real camera. If this had been a sky bigfoot I would have been SOL )

[@royaltyb1837]

Thank you 😊

[@John-mf6ky]

I got to see an aurora as far south as Oregon State once, years back. Sadly I was at a pretty low elevation and wasn't about to see it very well

[@-yeme-]

2:23 carrington watched the flare and effects were felt on earth 5 minutes later? dubious. light takes about 8.5 minutes to get here but energetic particles take a couple of days dont they?

[@frasercain]

The first wave of particles are moving almost the speed of light. Material from coronal mass ejections can take longer.

[@TheScmtnrider]

yeme Cristian Birkeland, a Danish scientist at around 1900ish, took magnetic measurements below our northern auroral display. He concluded that they were powered by a direct connection to the sun and predicted these connections would be found. This was confirmed by NASA in the early sixtys. They found "tubes" of high speed particles, mainly protons, flowing in and out of our polar electrojets, to and from the sun. These flows are field aligned currents with their own electric field and magnetic forces. These connections occur on the sun, exclusively at coronal hole openings. What happens is this. A flare occurs in the vicinity of the Birkeland current connection point. Positively charged protons are caught up in the electric fields between the two flows of electrons and are accelerated to near light speed. They are directed along these current flows, to the polar electrojets and the Auroral display increases dramatically. This is when being on a polar flight will expose you to a proton storm. Ionizing radiation that triggers bone cancer and other wonderful reactions. The particles in a coronal mass ejection must first clear the chromosphere and far more powerful coronal magnetic fields, before they can leave the sun's atmosphere. These continue to accelerate after leaving the sun, traveling outward along the heliospheric current sheet. This acceleration is likely caused by electric fields in the neutral region between the positive and negative sides of this 360 degree flow. Similar to that of birkeland currents and particle accelerators on earth. Depending on the speed of the ejection a kill shot could take as little as 12 hours to impact us but it's usually around two days. Plans are being hatched to place satellites between earth and sun to measure the speed of incoming charged particles. If a cme were to blast through to ground, as with the carrington event, all conductors would induce currents of varying high voltage and overwhelm transformers of all sizes, shorting them out internally, rendering them useless. If that happens, living in a big city's gonna be no fun at all.

[@healthyone100]

the sun is only 2000 miles out in space not 93,000,000 miles, also the earth is FLAT!

[@nevillemadden5210]

+DominickVirgilio ... No! It's YOUR BRAIN that is 2000 Miles Out In Space: Not the Sun !!! ... Get Off KZbin you Fruit Loop !!!

[@sissyrayself7508]

Yeah,.... If you believe all the crap "they" pound into your mind as "mathematical facts" in the public indoctrination facilities.

[@cloneskiller]

now i cant sleep

[@johnnyj540]

I know what you mean, I've given this a lot of thought and lost a lot of sleep.

[@Blunderbussy]

I'm on the same boat. I can't imagine trying to get food, escaping the city or even suriving for more than two days in a modern society if everything collapses. Hell not even the rural areas would be truly safe and imagine all the people that would pretty much die instantly. From people with electronics to planes, cars, hell even ships might get lost. No lights, no water, no food, and a lot of desperate people running around in the millions or thousand of millions. Suddendly people from shitty countries in Africa or nomadic tribes would be the next heirs to the world.

[@frasercain]

Aww, the chances of it happening are pretty low. Well, 1 in 500 every year, anyway.

[@benjoseph8387]

+Fraser Cain tick tick tick... the clock is ticking with deafening volume for a terrorist major grid takedown....any CMEs can wait! Chain link fence is Americas great line of defense at the 9 key substations they say. Superconductors take like 18 months to replace...listen to Dr. Peter Pry and get the official heads up on it.

[@dachew57]

Crossing the 520 bridge in Seattle, sometime in 2000. Visible aurora for about 15 minutes. Really pretty green and occasional purples. I kept waiting for them to make some sort of nose like a deep roar. Aren't they earily quiet?

[@jonathan99097]

Since Carrington was able to observe this beforehand, I can't help but wonder if it's possible that the reporting of this phenomenon leading everyone to turn off their electronics could lower the damages... can that work?

[@nathishvel5725]

Yes but only to an extent. NASA and NOAA have systems that give us a scant 30 minutes warning about such events, which would enable us to disconnect things like power grids and stuff. But the plasma would simply fry even idle electronics as the chips and circuits would be subject to stray induced currents, and block all radio communication. So we can reduce the damage (prevent massive fires etc), but humanity would still pretty much have all of its electronics confiscated.

[@TheScmtnrider]

The Charlemagne event was bigger but not observed. Today, power would be out for decades with a carrington level event. BTW, as our magnetic poles migrate in what looks like a probable flip, our magnetosphere is weakening. Down 20% or so now, rate increasing. Coronal holes streams are now causing geomagnetic storms. This is an actual threat, like a piano hanging overhead by a crappy rope. We had a near miss three weeks ago when the spot that gave us 4 X class solar flares in a row, went off big time right as it rotated out of view. The cme went to Mars. Lit up global auroras. Pole shift Grand solar minimum Weakening magnetosphere It's coming. Be ready.

[@BigMisterApple]

You seem like someone that knows something about this; could you tell me what would (possibly) survive such a blast? I'm trying to write a book about an event like this hitting earth but I don't want to make any stupid mistakes..

[@christosvoskresye]

1:59 My first impression (out of the corner of my eye) of that sunspot complex was that it looks like a Chinese dragon. Compare with something like www.clipartkid.com/images/637/chinese-dragon-clipart-best-clipart-best-F9oKvm-clipart.jpeg

[@frasercain]

Watching sunspots is like watching clouds, you'll see all kinds of things.

[@whimandaprayer]

This comment was 4 years ago. Well now it is 2021, July, and I was watching a vid of the current solar activity, and saw a dragon image in the sun image. At first it appeared to look like a lion to me, and as I continued to look, it seemed more like a chinese dragon. Ironically, tomorrow is the 9Ave...a very significant time of mourning in Israel. Many folks believe something big will happen on that day. Those those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ, look to israel as God's prophetic timepiece. Of course there are many different calendars floating around, and the 9Ave tomorrow is on the official calendar the Jews currently use. Some say the calendar is off by a month. So I thought is interesting that the carrongton event happened in the month of August. Just food for thought. It's in God's hands. So much has happened in 4 years. I thank the Lord that He allowed this canadian gentleman's vid to still be up...it may hold some significance to these perilous times, we find ourselves in today. Many signs that the next cleansing of the earth is impending. There is one way out, which is up ☝️. I pray anyone who reads this comment seek the Way. Jesus is that Way, the only way. Please seek Him today. We are not promised tomorrow. Where do you wish to spend eternity? Time is short. Maranatha. 🙏🙏🙏🤗🙏✈ John 3:16.

[@bellaterra7777]

excellent video.... were off gridders in northern mn.... power our home w solar but yikes! a solar flare would knock it out quickly..... there have been two times since spring of 2015 when we jumped that we've had auroras so strong at night they were not only pulsing straight over head but we could face south and see them in the sky. what an awesome power Father Sun is and altho it would suck in many ways to lose all this tech... sometimes I think the world needs a reset button. we went a yr w lanterns and candles before getting solar power out here, and our system is pretty small.... and in that yr I have to say we all dreamed more vividly and slept better ... great vids ♥

[@richardtibbitts3841]

Well done, sir; well done indeed!

[@Danatoth-]

Dual wield smart phones XD

[@frasercain]

I probably experience some kind of loss of effectiveness by dual wielding, but I make up for it in overall DPS.

[@christinecortese9973]

Just found your channel and I just love it. Have seen so many doom and gloom scenarios about this and your simple sentence - wait for the grid to be rebuilt - is the gold standard for all responses. Yes, it will be. We will start over and even possibly on a better foundation of mutual help and support. New sub here!

[@frasercain]

Thanks a lot. The best solution is for us to make the underlying grid more resilient. Smaller loops of connected devices, independent power sources like solar and wind will help too. Batteries in people's homes.

[@Schixotica]

I wonder, would a heavy duty faraday cage or otherwise special structure engineered to protect from electromagnetic waves be effective at preventing damage from something of that intensity?

[@lts30000]

I go overboard Personnel my own designs. Easily plan things I build to be around for a lot longer than I am and working correctly You'll be running it to ground ground the F out of it

[@fladave99]

We had a flare DOUBLE the size of the Carrington event in July 2012. Would have wiped out the grid according to NASA but went off the back side of the sun. Reports the explosion went all the way to Neptune

[@td370]

I heard it narrowly missed Earth?

[@kayydollars]

Why would we need a phone with pretty lights in the sky it’s going to be so beautiful 🥺

[@MustangDesudiroz]

I can imagine how beautiful it could be and horrifying. It'll change all of our lives forever.

[@christophtrispec3083]

Scary stuff man

[@frasercain]

Just make sure you've got a few books kicking around, in case the internet goes down.

[@JsMomma7]

Thank you very much for doing this video. I read an article on SmartNews about a solar flare and having a 14 year old my mind immediately went to a situation like the movie Finch.

[@rockers7889]

Last weekend 2 days after the biggest solar flare in a decade, the crews were all over working on the power lines. No coincidence ?

[@frasercain]

I'm sure they were being careful. Big flares can cause power outages. Did you power stay up?

[@TheScmtnrider]

ROCKERS 78 Hi! It's fascinating how the number of returns on internet searches for: Electrical fire Power outage Software failure... Always dramatically increased immediately following strong geomagnetic storms. By always, I mean in the last several years.

[@one2pacs750]

2020 vision the event

[@eyeheisenberg2278]

What has 2020 got to do with it?

[@ChrisColmenter]

And back to a hot topic again in July 2021.

[@kimfleury]

Anton of What Da Math sent me here. He gave you a new sub.

[@damarissexton882]

We have given away much freedom through technology.

[@Jimmy-lm2eg]

At least it's better than being killed in Gulags

[@TurboHommy]

Dec 21st, 2020 is estimated to be the next Carrington Event only much much more powerful.

[@frasercain]

We can't predict solar storms more than a couple of days into the future. This sounds like a hoax, like 2012.

[@TurboHommy]

@@frasercain This entire planet has become a fkn hoax.

[@frasercain]

Nope, only the people trying to freak you out with fake doomsday. I've been debunking them for 20 years and they're always saying the end of the world is around the corner.

[@TurboHommy]

@@frasercain All proud of yourselves debunking, until one day, you're wrong. Then what? Lol you'll either be dead or scrutinized, and you'll make up some excuse like Trump when hes wrong lol You sound like the know it all scientists who think they know everything about the ocean when we've only investigated something like 5% of it. You probably don't even meditate or care to understand metaphysics, which is the next era of science, to scientists who once thought it was impossible to heal ourselves with the power of our minds. Thinking because we know some math, we know everything about the universe, is the biggest problem with humanity. We dont know shit man and that includes you. We have some information, yes. But unless you know whats on the other side of a black hole, you understand Dark matter, or have been to the ends of the universe, you dont know diddly, and your 20yrs is just experience, it doesnt magically make you know everything haha

[@Jaykurosakii]

I don’t want to jump on the bandwagon like I did a couple of years ago when youtube was flooded with Planet X and planet Nibiru clickbait, but I will take better care of myself just in case

[@LeeLee-jt9ux]

Many years ago i had a cabin in the U.P, of Michigan on a little inland lake. We would lay on the pier sometimes at night when the northern lights were on. It was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. Yet as i lay there i was also in wonder that they were also so incredibly dangerous.

[@frasercain]

Only dangerous if you're a computer, or rely on computers, which we do. :-)

[@DanielMcCool95]

When you said using two smart phones at once, all I could think was the adventure in technological issues a week or so ago

[@frasercain]

It's not the best way to use technology, but it's the best way to use the most technology.

[@mattforbes7833]

Child labour.... So 2017 is considered the Victorian age?

[@Adama.1]

Matt Forbes no

[@frasercain]

Not at the scale they had in the past.

[@mattforbes7833]

Fraser Cain IDK about that Fraser.

[@jebes909090]

Matt Forbes i wont be happy until we are eating children

[@Focusyn]

Only if you live in a third world shithole.

[@Yelowchy]

It will create a lot of jobs though (rebuilding for 2 trillion for dollars)

[@frasercain]

I'd rather those jobs came from something other than recovering from an enormous disaster.

[@smorrow]

Paul Krugman, is that you?

[@MarkVickers1]

It will be a very long time before the jobs arrive. First there will be a great deal of death, disease, crime, starvation - it will be like returning to the stone age overnight: no communications apart from a tiny amount of government emergency provision; no public services; no electricity to pump fuel to fill up trucks to deliver food; no electricity to keep food shops running. Streets filled within a week with people beginning to starve and looking for any food they can steal. And no-one will have jobs to do apart from emergency workers.

[@Satchmoeddie]

I have seen the aurora in Arizona. It was more prominent up around Payson and Pine Arizona. I was in Phoenix and was transfixed by this odd greenish grayish light in the northern sky. I eventually decided it was probably smoke, or fog illuminated by the streetlight from below, but the next day I found out the aurora was very visible up by Payson. That is pretty far to the south! There was another aurora event in Boulder & around the Denver area in the 1950s. Some people thought it was the end of days.

[@amandamc6569]

New sub here!

[@frasercain]

Welcome aboard!

[@FiXCrypto]

i believe an event like this is soon coming, not december 21st as many theorize but have you seen the video just put out by MrMBB333? he explains that a giant solar flare is coming to hit earth what are your thoughts on this? if you havent seen it I would gladly link the video for you to watch

[@CallMeKittyRawrr]

Yeah I saw it I’m freaking out but nothing to do except load up on stock-able items just in case

[@FiXCrypto]

@@CallMeKittyRawrr what do you think the effects would be if it were to hit us?

[@indigotae4980]

Nah its happening this year

[@FiXCrypto]

@@indigotae4980 how you sure of that?

[@indigotae4980]

Very sure look on planetstoday.com and see the planets alignment

[@b.c.2281]

In January 2017 I saw the brightest, most intense, and oddest shaped aurora I've ever been witness to. They aren't uncommon in my area (Northern British Columbia) but the shape of this one was unlike any other I've seen. I was working night shift in an open pit mine, and there had been some activity all night, but around 2am an Aurora started directly overhead, and in the next few seconds took on the shape of an upside down funnel. As if it was colliding with the magnetosphere directly over my area and flowing out in all directions. The light was intense green, pink, and a touch of purplish red, and as it rolled on, waves of more intense light and colour traveled down the inverted funnel structure like expanding rings. It lasted in this manner for probably 15-20 minutes, and I stood still and watched every single second of it. After this particular phenomenon ended, the aurora continued in a more typical configuration, though more colorful than usual for my area. It was, and still is, the single most incredible natural sight I've ever laid eyes on. I was stuck at work, standing outside in -30C weather at 2am and it's probably the one time in my life I could say I'm glad to be in that situation. Has anyone else experienced an Aurora like this? I've never found a picture that did it justice. The only reason I know I didn't hallucinate the whole experience was the corroborating testimony of my coworkers. It was wild.

[@frasercain]

I haven't seen one personally, but I've seen pictures like that. You seem to get them when the aurora is coming straight down from above. When you see video of auroras seen from space, you see ribbons on the Earth. And you must have been directly under one. Incredible.

[@b.c.2281]

@@frasercain Oh! An update! I spent a while doing more research after I commented and found the name for the phenomenon! It's called a Coronal Aurora, and the pinpoint where the aurora was originating would be called the Corona's Zenith. I found the information here. auroraborealisobservatory.com/news/understand-aurora-borealis-coronas/ The picture at the beginning of the article gives a perfect idea of what I was seeing, and this section really nailed the way it looked: "Coronas are so psychedelic that they make the aurora play tricks on your imagination. The part of the aurora that is right at zenith is the most fascinating to watch according to many stargazers. When a corona explodes, the middle rapidly flickers bright green and pinks. The whole structure also seems to sometimes ‘flow’ as the colors replace each other."

[@richardhawkins2248]

I was just going inside in 89 when the northern lights started. I live in Mississippi. I did the ole bottoms up with my beer to head inside and the sky started to turn red. I was up all night.

[@frasercain]

Amazing, even at lower latitudes you can still see them if you watch the skies.

[@trubluecrafter1060]

Where may I get a poster like the one shown at 5:04, please? And, do you have videos about what would happen if an enemy set off an EMP over America?