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One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer: 160 Years of Richard Carrington’S Legacy)

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One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer: 160 Years of Richard Carrington’S Legacy) Uma andorinha s´on~aofaz ver~ao:160 anos do legado de Richard Carrington (One swallow does not make a summer: 160 years of Richard Carrington's legacy) D. M. Oliveira1, 2, ∗ 1NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD, United States 2Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD United States No dia 1o de setembro de 1859, o astr^onomobrit^anicoRichard Carrington observou um compor- tamento an^omalono Sol. Aproximadamente 17 horas depois, efeitos magn´eticosde escalas globais foram observados na Terra: auroras boreais e austrais em regi~oesde baixas latitudes, e falhas em equipamentos telegr´aficosna Europa e Am´ericado Norte. Hoje, 160 anos depois, sabemos que essa conex~aosolar-terrestre controla a atividade magn´eticano espa¸copr´oximoda Terra e sua superf´ıcie, e seus efeitos s~ao objetos de uma disciplina denominada clima espacial. O objetivo principal deste modesto trabalho ´eapresentar brevemente ao leitor as observa¸c~oesde Carrington e as descobertas que levaram `aconex~aoentre fen^omenosmagn´eticossolares e terrestres. Tamb´ems~aobrevemente discutidas as implica¸c~oesdesta descoberta ao clima espacial com ^enfasena import^anciada prote¸c~ao de aparelhos tecnol´ogicospresentes no geoespa¸coe no solo, al´emde uma breve discuss~aodo futuro da disciplina nas pr´oximasd´ecadas. Palavras-chave: Evento de Carrington, Intera¸c~oesSol-Terra, Clima espacial. On 1 September 1859, the British astronomer Richard Carrington observed an anomalous beha- vior on the Sun. Approximately 17 hours later, magnetic effects of global scales were observed at Earth: aurora borealis and australis in low-latitude regions, and telegraphic equipment failures in Europe and North America. Nowadays, 160 years later, we know that solar-terrestrial connections control the magnetic activity in the geospace and on the ground, and their effects are subject of a discipline named space weather. The main goal of this modest work is to briefly present to the reader Carrington's observations and the discoveries that led to the connection between solar and terrestrial magnetic phenomena. Implications of this discovery to space weather with emphasis on the protection of technological systems in the geospace and on the ground, and a brief discussion on the future of the discipline, are briefly presented as well. Keywords: Carrington's event, Solar-terrestrial interactions, Space weather. Published in Revista Brasileira de Ensino de F´ısica,(2020), 42(1), http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1806-9126-RBEF-2019-0213 1. O astr^onomoRichard Carrington aparecimento de novas manchas solares em extens~oeslati- tudinais do equador solar, entre 30◦ e 40◦ dos dois hemis- frios, que diminuem com o avan¸codo ciclo solar [1, 3, 4]. Richard Christopher Carrington (1826-1875) foi um Devido a sua forma peculiar, os gr´aficosdos resultados astr^onomobrit^anicoamador interessado em observa¸c~oes dessas observa¸c~oess~aodenominados diagramas borbole- solares. Carrington observava diariamente a din^amica tas [5, 6]. Entretanto, tal fen^omenofoi primeiramente da superf´ıciesolar, tomando notas e armazenando dados observado por Carrington. O livro de Stuart Clark conta em detalhes minuciosos. Com o resultado de sua an´alise a hist´oriados fatos que culminaram na trag´ediaque con- de manchas solares [1{3] ele descobriu que tais manchas sistiu a vida de Richard Carrington [7]. executam movimentos latitudinais e a contagem destas Em geral, Richard Carrington n~ao´econhecido na co- apresenta n´umerosm´aximoscom per´ıodos de aproxima- munidade cient´ıfica atual somente pelo n~aoreconheci- damente 11 anos, o que ficou posteriormente conhecido mento de seus trabalhos em sua ´epoca, mas tamb´em como ciclo de atividade solar, ou simplesmente ciclo so- ´econhecido por ser o primeiro a observar claramente lar. Infelizmente, devido a problemas pessoais e fami- uma erup¸c~aosolar e associ´a-la,de maneira cuidadosa, liares, Carrington n~aoteve a oportunidade de publicar a fen^omenos magn´eticos terrestres. Curiosamente, o seu trabalho e apresentar seus resultados. A descoberta evento de Carrington, como ´econhecido hoje, n~ao´eso- do ciclo solar ´ecreditada ao astr^onomoalem~aoGustav mente a primeira erup¸c~aosolar a ser observada, mas ´e Sp¨orer(1822-1895), que executou suas observa¸c~oesinde- tamb´ema erup¸c~aosolar com as consequ^enciasmais in- arXiv:1910.02795v2 [physics.hist-ph] 17 Oct 2019 pendentemente de Carrington. Sp¨orertamb´em descobriu tensas ao ambiente terrestre observadas e registradas na a lei que leva seu nome, que consiste na observa¸c~aodo hist´oria.O objetivo deste trabalho ´erevisar as descober- tas que levaram `aconex~aoentre as atividades magn´eticas solar e terrestre, e reconhecer a import^anciado evento de Carrington no avan¸co do entendimento desta conex~aoe ∗Electronic address: [email protected] seu impacto na disciplina denominada clima espacial. 2 2. Conex~oesentre efeitos magn´eticos solares e terrestres s~aoestabelecidas As manchas solares foram descobertas por Galileu Ga- lilei (1564-1642) atrav´esde observa¸c~oespor telesc´opios no in´ıciodo s´eculoXVII [8]. Entretanto, houve pouco progresso nas observa¸c~oesde manchas solares no s´eculo seguinte, com exce¸c~ao `as observa¸c~oes do astr^onomo brit^anicoAlexander Wilson (1714-1786) que associou as manchas solares1 a \buracos"na superf´ıcie do sol [9]. Existem dados de manchas solares colhidos durante o s´eculoXVIII, mas estes dados n~aos~aoconfi´aveis devido sua esporacidade e m´etodos imprecisos utilizados em sua coleta [1, 3, 10]. O estudo de manchas solares teve um impulso consi- Figura 1: Diagrama esquem´aticoproduzido por Carrington mostrando as massivas manchas solares observadas por ele der´avel gra¸casao trabalho do farmac´ologoalem~aoSamuel em 1o de setembro de 1859. Extra´ıdoda refer^encia[17]. Heinrich Schwabe (1789-1875), cujos resultados foram di- vulgados na revista Astronomische Nachrichten [11], uma das primeiras revistas cient´ıficasdedicadas `aastronomia. nos sub´urbiosde Londres, quando percebeu uma ati- Em seu trabalho, Schwabe identificou um ciclo de 10 anos vidade diferente na superf´ıciesolar. Carrington obser- associado ao n´umerode manchas solares. Ap´osrefinadas vou uma emiss~aosolar extremamente brilhante que hoje observa¸c~oesexecutadas por Rudolf Wolfe (1816-1893), ´edenominada erup¸c~aosolar. Maravilhado por sua ob- o per´ıodo do ciclo solar foi corrigido para o valor mais serva¸c~aoe na ^ansiade encontrar uma outra pessoa para real´ısticode 11 anos [12, 13], que consiste na altern^ancia observar e testemunhar o fen^omeno,Carrington deixou entre dois m´aximosou m´ınimosconsecutivos. O trabalho seu laborat´oriomomentaneamente. Quando voltou, para de Schwabe ganhou import^anciaap´osser popularizado sua “mortifica¸c~ao",o clar~aohavia desaparecido. Gra¸cas pelo famoso cientista alem~aoAlexander von Humboldt as suas habilidades observacionais, Carrington desenhou em seu livro Cosmos [14]. suas observa¸c~oese enviou uma discuss~aodos resultados O astr^onomoe militar brit^anicoEdward Sabine (1788- `arevista Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society, pu- 1883) teve um papel importante na execu¸c~aodas Cruza- blicado em novembro de 1859 [17]. das Magn´eticas,financiadas pela Coroa Brit^anicana ten- O desenho publicado por Carrington ´emostrado na tativa de estudar o campo magn´eticoterrestre [15]. Por Fig. 1. A descri¸c~aodo evento, assim como da figura, volta do in´ıciodo s´eculoXIX, era amplamente conhecido ´etraduzida abaixo diretamente do artigo de Carrington que o campo magn´eticoda Terra era altamente vari´avel, [17] (tr^espontos entre colchetes indicam texto omitido e tais varia¸c~oes interferiam na orienta¸c~ao de agulhas pelo autor e textos entre colchetes foram adicionados pelo magn´eticas,produzindo, por exemplo, grande impacto autor): nos instrumentos de navega¸c~ao[7, 13, 15]. Ao analisar es- ses dados, Sabine descobriu que as varia¸c~oesmagn´eticas \Enquanto trabalhava na manh~ade ter¸ca- associadas com movimentos de agulhas magn´eticascoin- feira, 1o de setembro [de 1859], durante mi- cidiam estritamente com os n´umerosde manchas sola- nhas observa¸c~oescostumeiras da forma e das res descobertos por Schwabe e refinados por Wolfe [16]. posi¸c~oesdas manchas solares, eu presenciei Como resultado, uma eventual conex~aoentre fen^omenos uma apari¸c~aoa qual acredito ser extrema- solares e magnetismo terrestre foi claramente identificada mente rara. A imagem do disco do Sol era, pela primeira vez na hist´oriada f´ısicasolar. Entretanto, como sempre, projetada por mim [...] para uma andorinha solit´ariaera necess´ariapara anunciar a produzir uma fotografia de aproximadamente chegada do ver~ao. 11 polegadas [27.94 cent´ımetros]de di^ametro. No dia 1◦ de setembro de 1859, Carrington observava o Eu tinha diagramas confi´aveis de todos os Sol com seu telesc´opioem sua casa, na cidade de Redhill, grupos de manchas solares [...] quando dentro da ´areado grande grupo ao norte [...] duas ´areasintensamente brancas e brilhantes sur- giram, nas posi¸c~oesindicadas no diagrama 1 Hoje, sabemos que manchas solares s~aoregi~oesde temperatu- anexado [Fig. 1] pelas letras A e B, e das for- ras superficiais reduzidas relativamente ao seu entorno, causa- mas dos espa¸cosdeixados em branco. Minha das por fluxos magn´eticosintensos, que inibem o processo de primeira impress~ao foi que por alguma chance convec¸c~aode plasma (por isso o car´aterescuro das manchas). um raio de luz tinha penetrado por um bu- Explos~oessolares ocorrem devido a um processo denominado re- conex~aomagn´etica que por sua vez lan¸camgrandes quantidades raco na tela anexada ao objeto, pelo qual a do plasma solar com energia cin´eticaintensa no espa¸cointerpla- imagem era direcionada `asombra, pois a lu- net´ario[5]. minosidade era muito semelhante `aluz solar 3 Figura 2: Perturba¸c~oesda componente horizontal do campo magn´eticoterrestre, ou a soma vetorial de suas componentes nas dire¸c~oesleste e norte, registradas por magnet^ometrosde solo localizados no observat´oriomagn´eticoKew (coordenadas geogr´aficas51◦28' N, 359◦41.0' L) durante o evento de Carrington (1-2 de setembro de 1859).
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