The night sky on the night of the Carrington Event — 1 September 1859
On the morning of 1 September 1859 Richard Carrington, sketching sunspots at his private observatory in Redhill, Surrey, saw a brilliant white-light flare — the first solar flare ever recorded, also seen by Richard Hodgson. About 17 hours later the geomagnetic storm reached Earth: auroras were seen as far south as the Caribbean, and telegraph systems failed across Europe and North America.
The sky over Redhill, Surrey, England
This is the real sky above Redhill, Surrey, England (51.24°N, 0.17°W) on 1 September 1859 at 22:00 GMT (UTC+0) that night (1859-09-01 22:00 UTC). The Sun was 25° below the horizon: it was full night. The Moon (waxing crescent, 28% lit) was below the horizon. No bright planet was above the horizon. Brightest named stars up: Arcturus, Vega, Capella, Altair and Deneb.
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