The Carrington Event — the most powerful solar storm in history In 1859, the Earth was hit by the strongest geomagnetic storm ever recorded. It was called the Carrington Event. It was caused by a coronal mass ejection (CME). The cloud of solar plasma reached the planet in just 17.6 hours, although it usually takes 2-3 days. The storm caused bright auroras, telegraph failure, electric shocks to operators, and fires at stations. If such a storm occurred today, satellites, communications, the Inter