Editing Aurora (section)

== Historically significant events ==
The discovery of a 1770 Japanese [[diary]] in 2017 depicting auroras above the ancient Japanese capital of [[Kyoto]] suggested that the storm may have been 7% larger than the [[Carrington event]], which affected telegraph networks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/aurora-kyoto-1770-painting-science-magnetic-storm|title=1770 Kyoto Diary|last=Frost|first=Natasha|date=4 October 2017|website=Atlas Obscura|access-date=13 October 2017|archive-date=13 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013225201/http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/aurora-kyoto-1770-painting-science-magnetic-storm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Inclined zenith aurora over Kyoto on 17 September 1770: Graphical evidence of extreme magnetic storm|journal=Space Weather|volume=15|issue=10|pages=1314–1320|date=17 September 2017|doi = 10.1002/2017SW001690|last1 = Kataoka|first1 = Ryuho|last2=Iwahashi|first2=Kiyomi|bibcode=2017SpWea..15.1314K|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The auroras that resulted from the Carrington event on both 28 August and 2 September 1859, are thought to be the most spectacular in recent history. In a paper to the [[Royal Society]] on 21 November 1861, Balfour Stewart described both auroral events as documented by a self-recording [[Magnetometer#Survey magnetometers|magnetograph]] at the [[Kew Observatory]] and established the connection between the 2 September 1859 auroral storm and the [[Richard Christopher Carrington|Carrington]]–Hodgson flare event when he observed that "It is not impossible to suppose that in this case our luminary was taken ''in the act''."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stewart|first1=Balfour|title=On the Great Magnetic Disturbance of 28 August to 7 September 1859, as Recorded by Photography at the Kew Observatory|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|date=1861|volume=151|pages=423–430 [428]|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000054593107&view=1up&seq=461|doi=10.1098/rstl.1861.0023|doi-access=free|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=28 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828193110/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000054593107&view=1up&seq=461|url-status=live}}</ref> The second auroral event, which occurred on 2 September 1859, was a result of the (unseen) coronal mass ejection associated with the exceptionally intense Carrington–Hodgson white light [[solar flare]] on 1 September 1859. This event produced auroras so widespread and extraordinarily bright that they were seen and reported in published scientific measurements, ship logs, and newspapers throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia. It was reported by ''[[The New York Times]]'' that in [[Boston]] on Friday 2 September 1859, the aurora was "so brilliant that at about one o'clock ordinary print could be read by the light".<ref name="green-2006">{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.asr.2005.12.021|title=Eyewitness reports of the great auroral storm of 1859|journal=Advances in Space Research|volume=38|issue=2|year=2006|pages=145–154|last1=Green|first1=J|last2=Boardsen|first2=S|last3=Odenwald|first3=S|last4=Humble|first4=J|last5=Pazamickas|first5=K|bibcode=2006AdSpR..38..145G|hdl=2060/20050210157|hdl-access=free }}</ref> One o'clock EST time on Friday 2 September would have been 6:00 GMT; the self-recording magnetograph at the [[Kew Observatory]] was recording the [[geomagnetic storm]], which was then one hour old, at its full intensity. Between 1859 and 1862, [[Elias Loomis]] published a series of nine papers on the [[Elias Loomis#Great Auroral Exhibition of 1859|Great Auroral Exhibition of 1859]] in the ''[[American Journal of Science]]'' where he collected worldwide reports of the auroral event.<ref name="loomis-1859">See:
* {{cite journal|last1=Loomis|first1=Elias|title=The great auroral exhibition of August 28 to September, 1859|journal=The American Journal of Science|date=November 1859|volume=28|pages=385–408|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679510&view=1up&seq=403|series=2nd series|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=13 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513073306/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679510&view=1up&seq=403|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Loomis|first1=Elias|title=The great auroral exhibition of August 28 to September 4, 1859 – 2nd article|journal=The American Journal of Science|date=January 1860|volume=29|pages=92–97|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679511&view=1up&seq=112|series=2nd series|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=14 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514192319/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679511&view=1up&seq=112|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Loomis|first1=Elias|title=The great auroral exhibition of August 28 to September 4, 1859 – 3rd article|journal=The American Journal of Science|date=February 1860|volume=29|pages=249–266|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679511&view=1up&seq=269|series=2nd series|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=15 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515012519/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679511&view=1up&seq=269|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Loomis|first1=Elias|title=The great auroral exhibition of August 28 to September 4, 1859 – 4th article|journal=The American Journal of Science|date=May 1860|volume=29|pages=386–399|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679511&view=1up&seq=406|series=2nd series|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=13 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513073309/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679511&view=1up&seq=406|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Loomis|first1=Elias|title=The great auroral exhibition of August 28 to September 4, 1859, and the geographical distribution of auroras and thunder storms – 5th article|journal=The American Journal of Science|date=July 1860|volume=30|pages=79–100|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679512&view=1up&seq=93|series=2nd series|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=14 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514050130/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679512&view=1up&seq=93|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Loomis|first1=Elias|title=The great auroral exhibition of August 28 to September 4, 1859 – 6th article|journal=The American Journal of Science|date=November 1860|volume=30|pages=339–361|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679512&view=1up&seq=363|series=2nd series|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=13 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513233251/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679512&view=1up&seq=363|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Loomis|first1=Elias|title=The great auroral exhibition of August 28 to September 4, 1859 – 7th article|journal=The American Journal of Science|date=July 1861|volume=32|pages=71–84|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679513&view=1up&seq=85|series=2nd series|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=14 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514003736/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679513&view=1up&seq=85|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Loomis|first1=Elias|title=On the great auroral exhibition of August 28 to September 4, 1859, and auroras generally – 8th article|journal=The American Journal of Science|date=September 1861|volume=32|pages=318–335|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679513&view=1up&seq=334|series=2nd series|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=14 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514105930/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679513&view=1up&seq=334|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Loomis|first1=Elias|title=On electrical currents circulating near the earth's surface and their connection with the phenomena of the aurora polaris – 9th article|journal=The American Journal of Science|date=July 1862|volume=34|pages=34–45|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679515&view=1up&seq=62|series=2nd series|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=14 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514193441/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679515&view=1up&seq=62|url-status=live}}</ref>

That aurora is thought to have been produced by one of the most intense [[coronal mass ejection]]s in history. It is also notable for the fact that it is the first time that the phenomena of auroral activity and electricity were unambiguously linked. This insight was made possible not only due to scientific [[magnetometer]] measurements of the era but also as a result of a significant portion of the {{convert|125000|mi|km}} of [[electrical telegraph|telegraph]] lines then in service being significantly disrupted for many hours throughout the storm. Some telegraph lines, however, seem to have been of the appropriate length and orientation to produce a sufficient [[geomagnetically induced current]] from the [[electromagnetic field]] to allow for continued communication with the telegraph operator power supplies switched off.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Loomis|first1=Elias|title=The great auroral exhibition of August 28 to September 4, 1859 – 2nd article|journal=The American Journal of Science|date=January 1860|volume=29|pages=92–97|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679511&view=1up&seq=112|series=2nd series|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=14 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514192319/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001679511&view=1up&seq=112|url-status=live}}</ref> The following conversation occurred between two operators of the American Telegraph Line between [[Boston]] and [[Portland, Maine]], on the night of 2 September 1859 and reported in the ''Boston Traveller'':

{{Blockquote|
''Boston operator (to Portland operator):'' "Please cut off your battery [power source] entirely for fifteen minutes."<br />
''Portland operator:'' "Will do so. It is now disconnected."<br />
''Boston:'' "Mine is disconnected, and we are working with the auroral current. How do you receive my writing?"<br />
''Portland:'' "Better than with our batteries on. – Current comes and goes gradually."<br />
''Boston:'' "My current is very strong at times, and we can work better without the 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."<br />
''Portland:'' "Very well. Shall I go ahead with business?"<br />
''Boston:'' "Yes. Go ahead."
}}

The conversation was carried on for around two hours using no [[Battery (electricity)|battery]] power at all and working solely with the current induced by the aurora, and it was said that this was the first time on record that more than a word or two was transmitted in such manner.<ref name="green-2006" /> Such events led to the general conclusion that

{{Blockquote|The effect of the Aurora on the electric telegraph is generally to increase or diminish the electric current generated in working the wires. Sometimes it entirely neutralizes them, so that, in effect, no fluid [current] is discoverable in them. The aurora borealis seems to be composed of a mass of electric matter, resembling in every respect, that generated by the electric galvanic battery. The currents from it change coming on the wires, and then disappear: the mass of the aurora rolls from the horizon to the zenith.<ref>{{cite news |title=Aurora Borealis and the Telegraph |newspaper=The British Colonist |volume=2 |issue=56 |date=19 October 1859 |publisher=Amor De Cosmos |publication-place=Victoria, V.I. [Vancouver Island, B.C.] |issn=0839-4229 |oclc=1115103262  |page=1, col. 2 |url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist18591019uvic/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>}}In May 2024, a [[May 2024 solar storms|series of solar storms]] caused the aurora borealis to be observed from as far south as [[Ferdows]], [[Iran]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 May 2024 |title=وقتی طوفان خورشیدی، آسمان ایران و جهان را رنگ‌آمیزی کرد |url=https://www.zoomit.ir/shutter/420985-aurora-borealis-solar-storm/ |access-date=20 July 2024 |website=زومیت |language=fa}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=چطور شد که شفق قطبی در ایران هم دیده شد؟ +عکس |url=https://borna.news/fa/news/2093435/%DA%86%D8%B7%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%B4%D8%AF-%DA%A9%D9%87-%D8%B4%D9%81%D9%82-%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A8%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%87%D9%85-%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AF%D9%87-%D8%B4%D8%AF-%D8%B9%DA%A9%D8%B3 |access-date=20 July 2024 |website=fa |language=fa}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=12 May 2024 |title=شفق قطبی در آسمان کویر ایران |url=https://www.bbc.com/persian/articles/c72p05277ero |access-date=20 July 2024 |website=BBC News فارسی |language=fa}}</ref>