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See the ‘monster’ sunspot that launched the Carrington Event, the most devastating solar storm in recorded history

See the ‘monster’ sunspot that launched the Carrington Event, the most devastating solar storm in recorded history

On Sept. 1, 1859, British astronomer Richard Carrington was investigating a strange cluster of dark blobs in the sun's atmosphere when a bright blast of light caught his eye. Shining for nearly five minutes, the flash would later make history as the first recorded solar flare ever observed — but Carrington's name would ultimately become synonymous with the violent solar storm that slammed into Earth less than 48 hours later.