Solar Storm of 1859

So this occurred on September 2, 1859? Interesting. We should all check the church records of our pueblos to see if anyone else had made a log about this event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Iwpyvou1f4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859#cite_note-12

Solar storm of 1859

The solar storm of 1859 (also known as the Carrington Event)[1] was a powerful geomagnetic solar storm during solar cycle 10 (1855–1867). A solar coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetosphere and induced one of the largest geomagnetic storms on record, September 1–2, 1859. The associated "white light flare" in the solar photosphere was observed and recorded by British astronomers Richard C. Carrington (1826–1875) and Richard Hodgson (1804–1872). The now-standard unique IAU identifier for this flare is SOL1859-09-01.

A solar storm of this magnitude occurring today would cause widespread disruptions and damage due to extended outages of the electrical grid.[2][3] The solar storm of 2012 was of similar magnitude, but it passed Earth's orbit without striking the planet.[4]

Carrington flare
From August 28 to September 2, 1859, many sunspots appeared on the Sun. On August 29, southern auroras were observed as far north as Queensland, Australia.[5] Just before noon on September 1, the English amateur astronomers Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson independently made the first observations of a solar flare.[6] Carrington and Hodgson compiled independent reports which were published side-by-side in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, and exhibited their drawings of the event at the November 1859 meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society.[7][8]

The flare was associated with a major coronal mass ejection (CME) that travelled directly toward Earth, taking 17.6 hours to make the 150 million kilometre (93 million mile) journey. It is believed that the relatively high speed of this CME (typical CMEs take several days to arrive at Earth) was made possible by a prior CME, perhaps the cause of the large aurora event on August 29 that "cleared the way" of ambient solar wind plasma for the Carrington event.[6]

Because of a geomagnetic solar flare effect ("magnetic crochet")[9] observed in the Kew Observatory magnetometer record by Scottish physicist Balfour Stewart and a geomagnetic storm observed the following day, Carrington suspected a solar-terrestrial connection.[10] Worldwide reports on the effects of the geomagnetic storm of 1859 were compiled and published by American mathematician Elias Loomis, which support the observations of Carrington and Stewart.

On September 1–2, 1859, one of the largest recorded geomagnetic storms (as recorded by ground-based magnetometers) occurred. Auroras were seen around the world, those in the northern hemisphere as far south as the Caribbean; those over the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. were so bright that the glow woke gold miners, who began preparing breakfast because they thought it was morning.[6] People in the northeastern United States could read a newspaper by the aurora's light.[11] The aurora was visible as far from the poles as south-central Mexico[12], Queensland, Cuba, Hawaii,[13] southern Japan and China,[14] and even at lower latitudes very close to the equator, such as in Colombia.[15] Estimates of the storm strength range from −800 nT to −1750 nT.[16]

Telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, in some cases giving telegraph operators electric shocks.[17] Telegraph pylons threw sparks.[18] Some telegraph operators could continue to send and receive messages despite having disconnected their power supplies.[19]

On Saturday, September 3, 1859, the Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser reported:

Those who happened to be out late on Thursday night had an opportunity of witnessing another magnificent display of the auroral lights. The phenomenon was very similar to the display on Sunday night, though at times the light was, if possible, more brilliant, and the prismatic hues more varied and gorgeous. The light appeared to cover the whole firmament, apparently like a luminous cloud, through which the stars of the larger magnitude indistinctly shone. The light was greater than that of the moon at its full, but had an indescribable softness and delicacy that seemed to envelop everything upon which it rested. Between 12 and 1 o'clock, when the display was at its full brilliancy, the quiet streets of the city resting under this strange light, presented a beautiful as well as singular appearance.[20]

In 1909, an Australian gold miner C.F. Herbert retold his observations in a letter to The Daily News in Perth:

I was gold-digging at Rokewood, about four miles from Rokewood township (Victoria). Myself and two mates looking out of the tent saw a great reflection in the southern heavens at about 7 o'clock p.m., and in about half an hour, a scene of almost unspeakable beauty presented itself, lights of every imaginable color were issuing from the southern heavens, one color fading away only to give place to another if possible more beautiful than the last, the streams mounting to the zenith, but always becoming a rich purple when reaching there, and always curling round, leaving a clear strip of sky, which may be described as four fingers held at arm's length. The northern side from the zenith was also illuminated with beautiful colors, always curling round at the zenith, but were considered to be merely a reproduction of the southern display, as all colors south and north always corresponded. It was a sight never to be forgotten, and was considered at the time to be the greatest aurora recorded... The rationalist and pantheist saw nature in her most exquisite robes, recognising, the divine immanence, immutable law, cause, and effect. The superstitious and the fanatical had dire forebodings, and thought it a foreshadowing of Armageddon and final dissolution.[21]

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YSLZ-XS4?i=501&wc=3PMG…

“Ojo. --- La noche de este día [1º de septiembre de 1859], como al mediar la modorra, apareció una gran columna de fuego rojizo con unas ráfagas blancas, en dirección perpendicular, abrazando de Norte á Oriente, no muy ancha i subió bastante hacia nuestro Zenit, pero nunca llegó a sernos perpendicular; Se fue disminuyendo y retirando por la misma dirección que trajo, y al entrar la Alba, quedó concluida. Cuatro noches antes de ella, hubo otra luz menor, que yo no vi y por lo mismo no la escribo, pero se dice que fue de color amarillo.

Setenta años há, vieron nuestros Padres una Aurora boreal, de esta especie, pero mucho más extensa. Las apariciones de este fenómeno en nuestro País, son tan raras que ello mismo las hace admirar, y por lo tanto, anoto ésta que vi para memoria y noticia cierta y exacta á las futuras generaciones.” . . . [José Trinidad García, 2 de septiembre de 1859, Lampazos de Naranjo, Nuevo León, México]
__________________________________________

“Attention. --- The night of this day (1 Sep 1859), about midway through the “modorra” [the second quarter of the night – roughly 9 p.m. to 12 a.m.], appeared a great column of reddish fire with some white flashes/streaks, in a perpendicular direction, stretching from North to West, not very thick and it rose toward our Zenith, but it never became perpendicular to us. It began diminishing and retiring via the same direction it came from, and upon the arrival of Dawn, was concluded. Four nights before this, there was another lesser light, which I did not see and for that reason did not record, but it is said that it was yellow in color.

Seventy years ago, our Parents [elders] saw an Aurora Borealis, of this kind, but much more extensive. The appearances of this phenomenon in our Country are so rare, that in and of themselves makes them admirable, and as such, I document this one that I saw as a memory and true and exact account for future generations.” . . . [José Trinidad García, 2 September 1859, Lampazos de Naranjo, Nuevo León, México]
__________________________________________

This entry verifies that there was an astronomical event on the night of Sunday, 28 Aug 1859, and again four nights later on the night of Thursday, 1 Sep 1859. It confirms that the Aurora Borealis was a reddish color accompanied by white lights, and began before midnight. It also verifies that elders remembered that 70 years prior (roughly 1789) there was another memorable event. This coincides with Solar cycle 4, the fourth solar cycle since 1755, when extensive recording of solar sunspot activity began. The solar cycle lasted 13.6 years, beginning in September 1784 and ending in April 1798. The maximum smoothed sunspot number (SIDC formula) observed during the solar cycle was 235.3 (in February 1788), and the starting minimum was 15.9. Again the maximum of solar activity took place in February 1788, exactly as the above entry mentions.

Curiously, all the pages in the Arandas, Jalisco, baptismal archive for the month of September 1859 are missing. They stop on 29 Aug 1859 on Foja 19 and skip to 2 Oct 1859 on Foja 28. No mention of the Aurora borealis at all. Curious indeed. I will check other towns' archives for this date to see if there are other mentions.

"México, Jalisco, registros parroquiales, 1590-1979," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-2LK7-3?cc=1874591&wc=3J64-… : 16 February 2017), Arandas > Santa María de Guadalupe > Bautismos de hijos legítimos 1859-1862 > image 94 of 369; parroquias Católicas, Jalisco (Catholic Church parishes, Jalisco).

Wow very interesting indeed....check this out. Confirmation of the events mentioned in the entry you found.

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018SpWea..16..593G (redirected from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859#cite_note-12)

SAO/NASA ADS Physics Abstract Service

Title:
Observations of Low-Latitude Red Aurora in Mexico During the 1859 Carrington Geomagnetic Storm
Authors:
González-Esparza, J. A.; Cuevas-Cardona, M. C.
Affiliation:
AA(LANCE, Instituto de Geofísica, Unidad Michoacán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, México), AB(Instituto de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Carboneras, Mineral de la Reforma, México)
Publication:
Space Weather, Volume 16, Issue 6, pp. 593-600
Publication Date:
06/2018
Origin:
WILEY
Keywords:
Carrington Event, history of space weather, extreme events, international collaboration
Abstract Copyright:
©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
DOI:
10.1029/2017SW001789
Bibliographic Code:
2018SpWea..16..593G

Abstract
One of the most intense geomagnetic storm that has been documented in recent history occurred on 1 September 1859. This storm is known as the Carrington Event. In the morning of 1 September at around 11:15 UT, Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson observed in England, independently and for the first time, an intense white light solar flare. About 17 hr after this solar event, there occurred the strongest geomagnetic perturbation ever recorded as well as a greatly extended red aurora, which covered unusually at low latitudes. The red auroral display on 2 September was reported in regions where this kind of phenomena is very rare, like in Cuba and Hawaii. Until now however, it was not known to scientists that the low-latitude red aurora is also registered in Mexico. At that time, Mexico was in a civil war, and there were very difficult conditions in where to establish astronomical and magnetic observatories. Nevertheless, the geomagnetic storm was observed with a maximum intensity between 7:00 and 8:00 UTC and was reported to a Mexican newspaper from five different locations (Mexico City, Querétaro, Guadalajara, Hidalgo, and Guanajuato) and registered also from at least in two additional sites (Michoacán and San Luis Potosí) in other historical documents. These records confirm that the Carrington geomagnetic storm was a global event with planetary repercussions, and that the Mexican low-latitude region is susceptible to significant effects associated with intense space weather events.

My mother’s grandmother, Martina Carlos de Godoy, born November 1849, Tlaltenango, Zac.

Mother recalled the story mentioned by her grandmother, when Martina was a little girl the sky turned dark, the weather was very cold, and little white flakes were falling from the sky.

The locals thought it was the end of the world.

Martina did not indicate if the event was just one day or several. Martina would have been ten years of age during the Solar Storm. This could possibly have been the event Martina mentioned.

Misty

Wow, I hope someone does translate it. It seems pretty interesting.