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Last month, the land was treated To the huge aurora borealis Which reached as far south as Texas. The event was attributed to a solar storm that lasted for almost a full day and is likely to be the strongest in 2026. Such solar storms are usually fun for people on Earth, as our planet’s atmosphere is shielded from solar radiation, so we can only enjoy the brilliant greens and beautiful purples of the night sky.
But solar storms are much more than just the aurora we see, and sometimes they can cause real damage. There are many examples of this in recorded history, the oldest being Carrington eventa solar storm that occurred on September 1, 1859. It remains the most powerful solar storm ever recorded, as the world’s telegraph machines became overloaded with the energy emanating from them, causing their operators to shock, send ghostly messages, and even catch fire.
Things have changed a lot since the mid-19th century, and while technology today is more resistant to solar radiation than it was before, a solar storm of this size can still cause a lot of damage.
The Sun’s magnetic field is ubiquitous, contributing in part to solar storm activity and intensity.
What is a solar storm?
A solar storm is an umbrella term that describes any disturbance to the Sun that involves the violent ejection of solar material into space. This can come in the form of coronal mass ejections, in which clouds of plasma are ejected from the Sun, or solar flares, which are concentrated bursts of electromagnetic radiation (also known as light).
A large percentage of solar storms do not hit Earth, and the Sun is always ejecting material into space, so small solar storms are very common. The only things humans tend to talk about are the bigger things He does Hit the ground. When this happens, it causes geomagnetic storms, where solar material interacts with Earth’s magnetic fields, and the excitation can cause problems in everything from the power grid to satellite functions. It is not uncommon to hear “solar storm” and “geomagnetic storm” used interchangeably, because solar storms cause geomagnetic storms.
The Sun is most active during solar maximum, which is associated with more solar storms.
Solar storms ebb and flow in an 11-year cycle known as the solar cycle. NASA scientists announced that the Sun It was at the peak From the latest 11-year cycle in 2024, and as such, solar storms are becoming more frequent. The sun will figuratively cool over time, and fewer solar storms will occur until the cycle repeats.
This cycle has remained stable for hundreds of millions of years and was first observed in the 18th century Astronomer Christian Horibault.
CMEs can be massive. This image was released in 2012, and had it struck Earth, it would have caused a Carrington event-level solar storm. Instead, it collided with NASA’s Stereo A satellite, which survived the storm and continues to study the Sun to this day.
How strong is a solar storm?
The Carrington event is a prime example of how powerful a solar storm can be, and such events are extremely rare. There was no classification system at the time, but it would certainly have maxed out in every scheme used by science today.
We currently measure the strength of solar storms on four different scales.
The first classification a solar storm receives is for material emitted by the Sun. Solar flares are classified using the Solar Flare Classification System, a logarithmic intensity scale that begins with Category B at the lowest end, then increases to Category C, M, and finally Category X at the strongest. According to To NASAthe scale goes up indefinitely and tends to become difficult at higher levels. The strongest solar flare measured was in 2003, which overloaded the sensors at X17 and was eventually estimated to be an X45 flare.
The ESA/NASA SOHO satellite monitors the sun so humans can see solar flares when they occur. This massive solar flare erupted on January 24, 2012.
CMEs do not have a named measurement system, however It is monitored by satellites It is measured based on its effect on the Earth’s geomagnetic field.
Once the material reaches the ground, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) uses it. Three more scales To determine how strong the storm is and what systems it may affect. They include:
- Geomagnetic storm (G1-G5): This measure measures how much solar matter affects the Earth’s geomagnetic field. Strong storms can affect the power grid, electronics, and voltage systems.
- Solar radiation storm (S1-S5): Measures the amount of solar radiation present. Strong storms increase exposure to astronauts in space and people in high-flying aircraft. It also describes the storm’s impact on satellite and radio communications functions.
- Radio Power Off (R1-R5): Less used but still very important. A higher R rating means greater impact on GPS satellites and high-frequency radios, with the worst case being disruption of communications and navigation.
Solar storms also cause aurora borealis by exciting molecules in Earth’s atmosphere, which then light up when they “calm down.” Per NASA. The strength and reach of an aurora are generally related to the strength of a storm. G1 storms rarely cause auroras to reach south of Canada, while a G5 storm may be visible as far south as Texas and Florida. Next time you see a forecast for a large aurora borealis, you can assume that a major solar storm is on the way.
Satellites in orbit have a lot more to worry about than humans on Earth.
How dangerous is a solar storm?
The vast majority of solar storms are harmless. Science has protections against the effects of solar storms that it did not have when the telegraph caught fire, and most solar storms are small and pose no threat to people on the surface because the Earth’s magnetic field protects us from the worst of it.
This does not mean that they do not pose any threat. Humans may be exposed to ionizing radiation (the bad kind of radiation) if they fly at high altitudes, including astronauts in space. Noah He says this could happen With an S2 or higher storm, though, location really matters here. Flights that go beyond the polar cap during solar storms are much more vulnerable than your regular flight from Chicago to Houston, and airlines have done just that Complete set of rules To monitor space weather, redirect flights, and monitor long-term radiation exposure of flight crews to reduce potential cancer risks.
Larger solar storms can disrupt quite a few systems. NASA says Strong storms can impact satellites, cause radio outages, shut down communications, disable GPS, and cause harmful power fluctuations in the power grid. This means that everything from high-frequency radio to mobile phone reception could be affected, depending on how severe it is.
A good example of this is the solar storms of Halloween 2003. A series of powerful solar flares hit Earth on October 28 and 31, creating a solar storm so massive that a lot of things went wrong. It is worth noting that aircraft pilots were forced to change their course and lower their altitudes due to radiation that damaged their instruments and nearly half of the world’s satellites. Completely lost For a few days.
Paper titled Flying through uncertainty Posted about Halloween storms and the problems they cause. The researchers noted that 59% of all satellites orbiting Earth at the time suffered some type of malfunction, such as random thrusters going offline and some stopping working altogether. More than half of Earth’s satellites were lost for several days, requiring around-the-clock work from NASA and other space agencies to get everything back online and located.
Earth has not experienced a Carrington-level solar storm since it occurred in 1859, so the maximum damage it could cause in modern times is unknown. European Space Agency He ran the simulationsAnd, spoiler alert, the results were not promising. A solar storm of this caliber has a high chance of causing damage to almost every satellite in orbit, which could cause a lot of problems here on Earth as well. There was also High risk of power outages And the damage. It may be the aurora borealis, but you may have to wait to post it on social media until things come back online.
When big solar storms happen, at least they’ll be pretty.
Do we have anything to worry about?
We’ve mentioned two massive solar storms, the Halloween storms and the Carrington event. Such large storms tend to occur very rarely. In fact, these two storms occurred approximately 150 years apart. These are not the strongest storms yet. The worst thing Earth has ever seen is what is known as the Miyake Event.
Miyake events are times throughout history when massive solar storms are believed to have occurred. These are measured Huge spikes in carbon 14 Which were preserved in tree rings. Miyake events are few and far between, but science believes at least 15 such events have occurred over the past 15,000 years. That includes One in 12,350 BCwhich was probably twice as large as any other known event at Miyake.
They currently hold the title of the largest solar storms we know of, and are believed to be caused by superflares and extreme solar events. If one of these events occurred today, especially one as large as the one that occurred in 12,350 B.C., it would likely cause widespread catastrophic damage and Potentially threatening human life.
Those It just seems to happen Once every several hundred to a few thousand years, so it’s unlikely one will come anytime soon. But solar storms on the scale of the Halloween and Carrington events have happened in recent history, and humans have been able to survive them, so for now, there’s not much to worry about.