Here comes the sun storm (big aurora's tonight?)

[n2doc]

NASA
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory snapped this X-ray photo of the sun early Sunday. The dark arc near the top right edge of the image is a filament of plasma blasting off the surface — part of the coronal mass ejection. The bright region is a solar flare.

Alan Boyle writes: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has captured what appears to be a disturbance in the force - on the sun. Astronomers say Sunday morning's eruption sent out a blast of electrically charged particles that should create brilliant auroral displays on Tuesday night.

"This eruption is directed right at us, and is expected to get here early in the day on August 4th," astronomer Leon Golub said in a statement from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "It's the first major Earth-directed eruption in quite some time."

Fortunately, it's not all that big of an eruption: The X-ray blast rated a C3 on the Space Weather Prediction Center's scale, which suggests there'll be no disruption for power grids, satellites, astronauts on the International Space Station or navigation services on airplanes. Stronger space storms can have more serious impacts. In 1989, for example, a huge solar outburst sparked a nine-hour electrical blackout in Quebec - and a more moderate blast that occurred in April apparently turned a telecom satellite into a zombie.

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http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/02/4802055-here-comes-the-sun-storm