History Observations from Earth The existence of particles flowing outward from the Sun to the Earth was first suggested by British astronomer Richard C. Carrington. In 1859, Carrington and Richard Hodgson independently made the first observations of what would later be called a solar flare. This is a sudden, localised increase in brightness on the solar disc, which is now known to often occur in conjunction with an episodic ejection of material and magnetic flux from the Sun's atmosphere, known as a coronal mass ejection. The following day, a powerful geomagnetic storm was observed, and Carrington suspected that there might be a connection; the geomagnetic storm is now attributed to the arrival of the coronal mass ejection in near-Earth space and its subsequent interaction with the Earth's magnetosphere. Irish academic George FitzGerald later suggested that matter was being regularly accelerated away from the Sun, reaching the Earth after several days.
History Observations from Earth The existence of particles flowing outward from the Sun to the Earth was first suggested by British astronomer Richard C Carrington In 1859 Carrington and Richard Hodgson independently made the first observations of what would later be called a solar flare This is a sudden localised increase in brightness on the solar disc which is now known to often occur in conjunction with an episodic ejection of material and magnetic flux from the Sun's atmosphere known as a coronal mass ejection The following day a powerful geomagnetic storm was observed and Carrington suspected that there might be a connection; the geomagnetic storm is now attributed to the arrival of the coronal mass ejection in near-Earth space and its subsequent interaction with the Earth's magnetosphere Irish academic George FitzGerald later suggested that matter was being regularly accelerated away from the Sun reaching the Earth after several days