The Carrington Event
This event occurred in 1859 and is considered one of the most extreme in the history of solar storms. More precisely, what happened was that a number of solar particles collided with the earth’s magnetic field, thus exhibiting another phenomenon known as aurora borealis. But the one in Carrington was much more powerful and the lights were seen in many regions at the same time.
Explained almost 3 years ago:
https://earthsky.org/space/wow-signal-explained-comets-antonio-paris