1841 Space Weather Report Was a Typo

A paper in the journal Space Weather concludes that a reported 1841 magnetic disturbance disrupting rail travel in Exeter, England, was likely a typo, not the earliest extreme space weather event. The anonymous 1871 Nature account had suggested the 1841 date, predating the famous 1859 Carrington Event. The correction leaves the Carrington Event as the first confirmed extreme space weather event.