The solar storm that erupted from the Sun yesterday reached the Earth today at about 15:00 UTC (10:00 a.m. Eastern US time). The wave of subatomic particles has been impacting the Earth's magnetic field, and we're starting to see some auroral activity:
Isn't that lovely? That was taken at 18:00 UTC today from a webcam in Abisko, Sweden. Can you see the handle of the Big Dipper right below the green curtain? [More aurora webcam sites are listed below.] The two biggest questions I'm getting on Twitter and Google+ are 1) is there any danger to this storm, and b) can I see the aurora from [my location]? First, no, we're not in any danger from this event. Even though it sounds terrifying -- an explosion the equivalent of billions of nuclear weapons launching hundreds of millions of tons of subatomic particles Earthward at speeds of million of kilometers per ...
