Seems like few people are aware that the intensity and low latitude display of the Aurora Borealis, is actually the result of a near-miss by Earth from what was another potential Carrington Event from the Sun.

The sun had a massive eruption that was luckily on the far side of the Sun from us. Had it been pointed towards Earth, we may have found ourselves in the midst of an unprecedented global crisis, with satellites in orbit burned out by intense radiation, electrical power grids knocked offline by overheated transmission lines, and potential serious damage to global communications infrastructure, which could have knocked wide-swaths of the internet and mobile communication systems offline for weeks or months.

We were literally spared a serious catastrophe by random chance.