Kerala University Researchers Use Trivandrum Observatory Records to Re-examine 1859 Carrington Event

Key facts

• A study by Kerala University faculty, published in the journal Astrophysics and Space Science, used historical bifilar magnetometer records from the Trivandrum Observatory to provide new insights into the Carrington Event of 1859.
• The research, led by R. Jayakrishnan with co-authors Fazil C.K. and Ajesh, found the Carrington Event was preceded and followed by a sequence of solar plasma ejections interacting with Earth's magnetic field over several weeks.
• Successive coronal mass ejections between 14 August and 15 September 1859 may have preconditioned Earth's magnetosphere, contributing to the exceptional geomagnetic storm intensity recorded on 2 September 1859.
• The magnetometer records were taken to Scotland in the 1870s by John Allan Broun, then Director of the Trivandrum Observatory, and later passed to the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the National Library of Scotland in 2010.
• Following a 2025 visit by anthropologist Anna Szolucha of Jagiellonian University, Poland, more than 7,000 documents were scanned over 10 days, giving researchers access to the historical dataset.
• The findings have implications for contemporary space-weather research, including geomagnetic storm modelling, satellite safety and preparedness for extreme space-weather events.