Are the Northern Lights risky? - Fabio Pacucci episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 2, 2026 · 7 MIN

Are the Northern Lights risky? - Fabio Pacucci

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Explore the science of solar storms, and find out why they occur and just how prepared we are for a major event. --In September 1859, miners following the Colorado gold rush woke up to another sunny day. Or so they thought. To their surprise, they soon discovered it was actually 1am and the sky wasn’t lit by the sun, but rather by brilliant drapes of light. The blazing glow was a solar storm— the largest in recorded history. So what exactly is a solar storm? Fabio Paccuci explains this astrophysical phenomena.Lesson by Fabio Pacucci, directed by Nick Hilditch.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-the-sun-could-crash-your-internet-fabio-pacucciDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-the-sun-could-crash-your-internet-fabio-pacucci#digdeeperAnimator's website: http://nickhilditch.com----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Sonja Worzewski, Amy, Michael Clement, Ghaith Tarawneh, Nathan Milford, Tomas Beckett, Alice Ice, Eric Berman, Kurt Paolo Sevillano, Ron Kakar, Jennifer Heald, Megulo Abebe, TAO7CADENCE, Olympia Buckingham, isolwi, Vedasheersh, Michael Chang, Waqar Sheikh, Irene Y., Kate Sem, VPpurplebelt, Ujjwal Dasu, Angel Alberici, Minh Quan Dinh, Sylvain, JasonD, Terran Gimpel, Talia Sari, Katie McDowell, Allen, Sarat Chandra Vegunta, Mahina Knuckles, Charmaine Hanson, Thawsitt, Jezabel, Abdullah Abdulaziz, Adriano Fontes, Xiao Yu, Melissa Suarez, SpartacusDMR, Brian A. Dunn, Francisco Amaya, Daisuke Goto, Matt Switzler, Leonardo Monrroy, Maryam, Bethany Connor, Jeremy Shimanek, Mark Byers and Avinash Amarnath. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Are the Northern Lights risky? - Fabio Pacucci

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