MSNBC Cosmic Log:
Here comes the sun storm
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 [UTC? -Hugh]," 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."