Solar Storm

“Now the whole world had one language and one speech.” [Genesis 11:1]

On September 1, 1859, the Carrington Super Flare, the largest solar flare in modern history, struck the earth, causing the most powerful geomagnetic storm ever recorded. It caused the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) to shine so powerfully they were visible around the world, even from the Caribbean Islands. They were so bright over the Rockies that gold miners thought it was morning and got up to prepare breakfast!

Between August 28 and September 2, 1859 many sunspots and solar flares were observed in the sun. British astronomer Richard Carrington observed an unusually large flare just before noon on September 1. This storm, also called the 1859 Solar Superstorm, caused the failure of telegraph lines across Europe and North America. Some operators even received a shock from the incident. Telegraph pylons literally threw sparks and telegraph paper sometimes started on fire. There were some systems that continued to send and receive messages though disconnected from power. By and large, the communication system on which millions depended was fried.

A geomagnetic storm caused by a solar flare temporarily affects the earth’s magnetosphere. Ice core samples from Greenland have shown that this phenomenon takes place about once every 500 years. Less severe storms have occurred in 1921 and 1960 and caused widespread radio disruption. In the fall of 2003, there were 17 major solar flares observed that resulted in an extreme radio blackout. It severely damaged a Japanese satellite and the WAAS system of the Federal Aviation Administration was offline for about 30 hours because of the storm. It is believed if a solar flare like the 1859 storm hit the world today it would suddenly wipe out the Internet and modern communications on a global scale.

The Bible says this would not be the first time international communications broke down through a heavenly phenomenon. Some years after Noah’s flood, mankind began to migrate to a plain and build a tower “to make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4). “They directly rebelled against God’s instructions, and the Lord came down…” and “confused their language” (v.7) so they could not communicate. People were then scattered abroad and the Tower of Babel was never completed.

What towers of rebellion do we erect that cut off our communication with heaven?