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December 7, 2012
Q. On Sept. 1, 1859, a natural event occurred that is so rare it is believed to happen only once or twice per millennium. It made telegraph equipment spark and sizzle, disrupting communications worldwide, and pushed the northern lights as far south as the Caribbean. The auroras were so brilliant in the eastern US that birds began chirping and people thought dawn had arrived. What had happened?
A. On that morning while observing the sun, London astronomer and solar expert Richard Carrington was startled to see “two patches of intensely bright and white light” erupting from dark sunspots, then disappearing five minutes later, as reported in The Writer's Almanac.
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