A New Look at the Carrington Event: Comet Biela and Andromedids

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Leseprobe, PDF (11 MB)
Inhaltsverzeichnis, PDF (67 KB)

The Carrington Event of 1859 was the most powerful recorded geomagnetic storm, producing intense auroras at low latitudes and damaging telegraph systems worldwide. It is generally attributed to solar flares and coronal mass ejections, including a major white-light flare observed by Richard Carrington. However, the text proposes an alternative or additional explanation involving debris from Comet 3D/Biela and the Andromedids meteor stream. After the comet fragmented in the 1840s, its secondary comets and meteoroids may have interacted with Earth in 1859, potentially contributing to geomagnetic disturbances through magnetized particles entering the atmosphere. Over time, the Andromedids stream weakened as the comet’s remnants dispersed. The author argues that a purely solar explanation of the Carrington Event may be incomplete and that cometary material could also have played a role.