Solar weather sparks super sights

Forecasters say a blast from the sun should strike a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field, starting Sunday, and create a mild geomagnetic storm. That's not enough to pose a planetary threat, but the storm should spark better-than-usual auroral displays. Skywatchers are already getting some great pictures in advance of the peak.

The blast, known as a coronal mass ejection, was witnessed by sun-watching spacecraft on Thursday — and at the time, NASA projected that the geomagnetic impact on Earth would be felt today. But experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado say the peak will come later.

"We're looking at it to start on Sunday, about 1 o'clock [p.m.] Eastern time," Joe Kunches, a space scientist at the prediction center, told me today.

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