Limits RegistryPUBLIC RECORD
Limits RegistryThe Carrington Event of September 1859, triggered by an intense solar flare and coronal mass ejection observed by British astronomer Richard Carrington, produced the most intense geomagnetic storm on record, with a reconstructed peak Dst index of roughly -1,600 to -1,760 nT — far exceeding any storm in the modern satellite era. It induced currents strong enough to spark fires in telegraph offices and produced aurorae visible as far south as the Caribbean and Colombia; a storm of similar scale today would be expected to cause widespread damage to electrical grids and satellites.
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The Carrington Event of September 1859, triggered by an intense solar flare and coronal mass ejection observed by British astronomer Richard Carrington, produced the most intense geomagnetic storm on record, with a reconstructed peak Dst index of roughly -1,600 to -1,760 nT — far exceeding any storm in the modern satellite era. It induced currents strong enough to spark fires in telegraph offices and produced aurorae visible as far south as the Caribbean and Colombia; a storm of similar scale today would be expected to cause widespread damage to electrical grids and satellites.
The greatest magnitude of geomagnetic disturbance, reconstructed from historical magnetometer records, ever attributed to a single solar-driven storm.
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Limits Registry. LR-MOST-INTENSE-GEOMAGNETIC-STORM. Most intense geomagnetic storm on record. 2026.