Home▸Physics & Mechanics▸The Carrington Event: The 1859 Solar Storm That Set Telegraph Wires on Fire

🌩️ The Carrington Event: 1859 Solar Storm Lab

Launch a coronal mass ejection from the Sun, watch it slam into Earth's magnetosphere, and see the aurora spread toward the equator and telegraph wires spark as in 1859.

Physics & Mechanics3DAdvanced60 FPS

Launch a coronal mass ejection from the Sun and watch it cross the gap to Earth, compress the dayside magnetosphere, push the aurora down toward the equator, and spark induced currents on a ground-level telegraph line — the same physics that set real telegraph offices alight in September 1859.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Faster ejecta compress Earth's dipole field lines on the sunward side and stretch the night-side tail, while geomagnetic activity (approximated here as a Kp-like index) expands the auroral oval toward lower latitudes and drives stronger geomagnetically induced currents.

🎮 How to Use

Set the CME speed, then click Launch CME and watch it travel from the Sun to Earth. Toggle the magnetic field lines and telegraph sparks, or switch to Ground view to see the induced-current spark up close.

💡 Did You Know?

The 1859 storm's CME reportedly crossed the roughly 150-million-km Sun-Earth gap in about 17.6 hours — several times faster than a typical CME, which is why it hit with so little warning.

⚙ Under the hood

Launch a coronal mass ejection from the Sun, watch it slam into Earth's magnetosphere, and see the aurora spread toward the equator and telegraph wires spark as in 1859.

solar-stormsmagnetic-fieldsauroratelegraphshistorical-eventsspace-weatherThree.js

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install