Public Talk: Solar superstorms: Are we ready for another Carrington Event?

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Solar superstorms: Are we ready for another Carrington Event?

In September 1859, the English astronomer Richard Carrington made the first recorded observations of a solar flare. Unknown to Carrington, the flare coincided with a fast-moving coronal mass ejection that struck the Earth’s less than twenty four hours later, triggering the most powerful geomagnetic storm of the modern age. The storm, now known as “the Carrington event”, sparked auroral displays visible as far south as the Caribbean and disrupted operations of the global telegraph network. But this powerful space weather event pre-dated most of the technologies that we depend upon today, such as power grids, satellites, and wireless communications. How vulnerable are we? Are we prepared for the next Carrington event? In this talk, Prof Jim Wild considers the resilience of the modern world to extreme space weather.

Speaker info:

Jim Wild is the Professor of Space Physics within the Physics Department at Lancaster University and President-Elect of the Royal Astronomical Society. His research focusses on the dynamic interactions between the Sun, the Earth, and other planetary bodies.

Jim is internationally recognised for his research on the interactions between the Sun and planetary environments, his leadership within the UK and international space science community, and his commitment to public communication of science. His work bridges the gap between fundamental space plasma physics and the practical implications of space weather for society, making him a leading voice in both academia and science policy.

Image credit:

Richard Carrington (1859), drawing of the solar active region during the Carrington Event. Originally published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.