Recently observations from the Tihany Magnetic Observatory in Hungary have found that the indices that scientists presently use to detect the Sun's geomagnetic perturbations to earth are actually unable to detect some of the events which can pose great threat on earth.

According to the Tihany Magnetic Observatory they recorded a solar storm which was almost similar to the largest solar storm ever recorded. They said that the other major observatories where unaware of the event.

The largest and strongest solar storm was recorded in 1859 by the English Astronomer Richard Carrington. It is also known as Carrington Event or the Carrington Flare and was detected at the Colaba Observatory in India.

As per experts, this solar storm caused auroras t latitudes as low as Madrid and even the Caribbean Sea. The storm even led to power cuts and fires at telegraph system facilities all over Europe and North America.

Later in order to avoid such risks scientists developed several indices that can help to both analyze and predict this phenomenon. One of the most widely used indices is the Dst (Disturbance storm time), which is obtained every hour by averaging the data.

The data is recorded at four observatories: Hermanus (South Africa), Kakioka (Japan), Honolulu (Hawaii, USA) and San Juan (Puerto Rico). Another indices used by scientists includes SYM-H -which assesses the horizontal component of the Earth's magnetic field.

But the Tihany Magnetic Observatory experts said neither Dst nor SYM-H was able to detect the magnetic perturbation that hit earth on October 29, 2003, which was similar to that of the Carrington Flare of 1859.