Last month, Earth was treated to a massive aurora borealis that reached as far south as Texas. The event was attributed to a solar storm that lasted nearly a full day and will likely contend for the strongest of 2026. Such solar storms are usually fun for people on Earth, as we are protected from solar radiation by our planet's atmosphere, so we can just enjoy the gorgeous greens and pretty purples in the night sky.
But solar storms are a lot more than just the aurora borealis we see, and sometimes they can cause real damage. There are several examples of this in recorded history, with the earliest being the Carrington Event, a solar storm that took place on Sept. 1, 1859. It remains the strongest solar storm ever recorded, where the world's telegraph machines became overloaded with energy from it, causing them to shock their operators, send ghost messages and even catch on fire.
Things have changed a lot since the mid-1800s, and while today's technology is a lot more resistant to solar radiation than it once was, a solar storm of that magnitude could still cause a lot of damage.
The sun's magnetic field is all over the place, which partially contributes to solar storm activity and severity. NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL
What is a solar storm?
A solar storm is a catchall term that describes any disturbance in the sun that involves the violent ejection of solar material into space. This can come in the form of coronal mass ejections, where clouds of plasma are ejected from the sun, or solar flares, which are concentrated bursts of electromagnetic radiation (aka light).
A sizable percentage of solar storms don't hit Earth, and the sun is always belching material into space, so minor solar storms are quite common. The only ones humans tend to talk about are the bigger ones that do hit the Earth. When this happens, it causes geomagnetic storms, where solar material interacts with the Earth's magnetic fields, and the excitations can cause issues in everything from the power grid to satellite functionality. It's not unusual to hear "solar storm" and "geomagnetic storm" used interchangeably, since solar storms cause geomagnetic storms.
The sun is much more active during its solar maximum, which correlates to more solar storms. NASA
Solar storms ebb and flow on an 11-year cycle known as the solar cycle. NASA scientists announced that the sun was at the peak of its most recent 11-year cycle in 2024, and, as such, solar storms have been more frequent. The sun will metaphorically chill out over time, and fewer solar storms will happen until the cycle repeats.
This cycle has been stable for hundreds of millions of years and was first observed in the 18th century by astronomer Christian Horrebow.
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