Free Astronomy Magazine July-August 2024

10 JULY-AUGUST 2024 ASTRO PUBLISHING pearance in the Southern Islands, we shall take the evidence of Mr. Scott, of the Sydney Observatory, who, writing on the 29 th ult., last Monday week, to the Herald, says: ‘I have just been watching, with con- siderable interest, the first specimen that I have ever witnessed of the Southern Aurora. […] I was immedi- ately reminded that Mr. Cracknell had, this morning, called my atten- tion to some singular irregularities in the workings of the Electric Tele- graph. I had been unable to point out any peculiarity in the state of the atmosphere which could ac- count for such effects, but there can be little doubt that they were con- nected with the same magnetic dis- turbances as produced the Aurora.” E xtract from a page from The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane) of September 7, 1859, which comments on the extraordinary auroras and secondary effects connected to the Carrington Event. Even in the Southern Hemisphere, there was no shortage of testimonies about electrical disturbances and the overloading of telegraph lines. suffered by telegraphers and to lines so charged with “auroral current” as to allow the transmission of messages without bat- tery power. In other cases, as witnessed by the American Tele- graph Company, the lines were so overloaded with power that com- munications were impossible for a few days. In several areas, it was nec- essary to repair material damage to telegraph infrastructure. Here is how the media of the time (essentially daily newspapers) re- ported on those events. The Boston News-Letter − Septem- ber 3, 1859: “Yesterday there was a great magnetic storm that affected all the telegraph lines in the country. The telegraph lines in Boston were all interrupted for several hours, and some of them were so badly injured that they will not be repaired for several days. The storm also affected the magnetic compasses on ships, and some vessels lost their way.” The London Times − September 5, 1859: “On the night of the 1 st to the 2nd of September [...] the magnetic compasses were so much affected that it was impossible to steer by them. The aurora borealis was seen in many places where it is rarely seen, and in some places it was so bright that it was possible to read by it.” The London Times − September 6, 1859: “Waves of light accumulated in rapid succession to the zenith, some with sufficient brilliance to cast a perceptible shadow on the ground.” The Moreton Bay Courier − Septem- ber 7, 1859: “As all our readers most probably saw the Aurora as well as ourselves, and as some of those who did see it testified to a similar ap-