Preparing for the next Carrington event

摘要

Those concerned about the hazards posed by near Earth objects often bring up the Tunguska event, a massive June 1908 explosion in Siberia caused by a meteor airburst. Those worried about space weather, by comparison, mention the Carrington event, a powerful September 1859 solar storm that created brilliant auroras close to the Equator. The Carrington event was relatively harmless, other than for a few telegraph operators who suffered electric shocks. A similar event today, however, would be devastating: the geomagnetic storm would interfere with GPS and other satellite signals, and destroy transformers that could bring down portions of the power grid for months or even years.