The year was 1859. Several astronomers around the world who had been studying the sun reported a massive, almost blinding burst of light ejecting from the sun’s surface, lasting for several long minutes before it subsided. The next day, the Carrington Event occurred, in which the sky in much of the world lit up like a gaudy Christmas lights display. It was bright enough at night to read a newspaper without an additional light source. Although several astronomers hypothesized a connection between the sun burst and the aurora, it was Richard Christopher Carrington who got his name attached to that incident. Science In 1619, Galileo Galilei coined the term “aurora…