Here comes the sun

© Mark Ollig On the morning of Sept. 1, 1859, images from a telescope pointed at the sun could be seen on a yellowish glass plate. British astronomer Richard Carrington draws on paper the images he is seeing. His drawings show large dark spots appearing on the surface of the sun. Two patches of intensely bright and white light suddenly showed on the dark spots that surprised Carrington. Carrington witnessed an enormous solar flare erupting from the sun. The bright and forceful solar flare was a coronal mass ejection (CME), and it was heading directly towards Earth. Upon reaching Earth, the CME blanketed the upper atmosphere. This solar event caused confusion and wonderment; as the night sky brightened, and then changed into a red, green, and swirling purple hue of a gigantic aurora borealis. Over several days, the resulting magnetic solar storm played severe havoc with devices using electricity, most notably, telegraphs. Telegraph systems, a commonly used communications device in 1859, required battery voltage. In this case, a battery consists of a glass jar filled with a chemical solution (such as copper sulfate) with submersed copper and zinc electrodes. This solution creates a chemical reaction to supply voltage for the telegraph. Several battery cells were connected to produce the higher voltages needed for a telegraph to operate over long spans of telegraph wire. I was surprised to learn about the many unique and distinctive styles and makers of not only telegraphs but electrically-powered magnetic clocks used in 1859. However, let’s digress back to the CME, which has now reached Earth and is described as “Auroral displays” by one Massachusetts newspaper. Today, the 1859 CME is known as the Carrington Event. The CME, upon hitting the Earth’s atmosphere, unleased a powerful solar storm wrapping its powerful flow of electrical current energy around miles of copper telegraph wire attached to wooden poles along the US eastern seaboard. The copper wires connected the individual telegraph stations located along the railroad tracks and towns. At some stations, telegraph operators were physically being shocked by the solar storm’s electrical current surges on the brass or copper telegraphy break-key they used to tap out (key) Morse Code messages. Reports of sparks shooting out of the break-keys caused paper used with the telegraph machines to ignite on fire. Telegraph operators quickly disconnected the batteries to their telegraph machines – but were astonished by what happened next. The electric current from the solar storm, described as “auroral current,” began powering their telegraph systems without its battery cells. I came across a detailed conversation between two telegraph operators working during the CME. The article appeared on Sept. 8, 1859, in The Berkshire County Eagle newspaper in Pittsfield, MA. This conversation is between the Boston, MA, and Portland, ME, telegraph operators working on the American Telegraph Line. Boston (to Portland operator)—“Please cut off your battery entirely from the line for 15 minutes.” Portland— “Will do so. It is now disconnected.” Boston— “Mine is disconnected, and we are working with the auroral current. How do you receive my writing?” Portland— “Better than with our batteries on. [The] current comes and goes gradually.” Boston— “My current is very strong at times, and we can work better without batteries, as the aurora seems to neutralize and augment our batteries alternately, making current too strong at times for our relay magnets. Suppose we work without batteries while we are affected by this trouble?” Portland— “Very well. Shall I go ahead with business?” Boston— “Yes. Go ahead.” The electrical current produced by this solar storm provided enough electricity for many telegraphs to operate for hours without using their batteries. Therefore, during 1859, solar-powered telegraphs were in operation. The CME eventually subsided, and the life of the telegraph operator returned to normal. “The phenomenon took place at an elevation considerably above the general surface of the sun,” he later wrote in the November 1859 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society publication. In 1879, the Brush Electrical Company provided two electrical direct-current producing dynamo generators in San Francisco for supplying customers with arc lighting lamps. In 1880, New York city Brush Electrical Company generators supplied power for electrically-powered arc lamps for lighting public street areas. In 1884, the first Alternate Current (AC) long-distance transmission system (covering 21 miles) was installed at the International Exhibition in Turin, Italy. Since 2016, the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite has been monitoring solar activity. The satellite’s primary purpose is to obtain information about the solar wind and charged particles constantly bombarding our planet’s magnetic field. This data can help us prepare for and respond to significant solar events that might disrupt our electrical infrastructure. Be safe out there.