What is 1989 geomagnetic storm?

The Earth got hit by a giant space storm in 1989 that made things go wobbly on our planet.

Imagine you're playing with your favorite toy car on the floor, and suddenly something big comes rolling down the hallway and knocks it off track, that’s kind of what happened. The Sun sent out a huge burst of energy called a solar flare, which traveled through space like a fast-moving wave.

This wave hit Earth's magnetic field, think of it as an invisible shield around our planet. When the storm hit, it shook this shield so much that it caused big changes in the electricity flowing through power lines. In some places, people lost power for hours, and even some street lights went out!

It was like a giant sneeze from the Sun, powerful enough to make Earth feel it all the way down here.

Some people saw auroras, which are like glowing curtains in the sky. These usually appear near the North and South Poles, but during this storm, they could be seen much farther south, kind of like a rainbow show that came out of nowhere!