Scotty, raise the shields.

A huge solar storm is expected to strike tonight and to put on a light show in the Northern sky, visible tor those in the Northern part of the Northern Hemisphere --- "from Maine to Michigan and anywhere farther north around the globe --- may see unusual northern lights.". Too bad for me, I'm too further South, will have to settle for Internet pictures. of the event.

The storm is the result of the shock wave and plasma ejections from a major eruptions on the sun surface. The Associated Press reports, "The federal Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., said the plasma will likely arrive late Tuesday night or early Wednesday.".The storms are not expected to be a threat to satellites or power grids..

We don't have to worry about Scotty raising the shields, because the shields are already up -- Earth's natural barrier, its magnetic field, is expected to protect the earth from most of the storm impact. This is the first major Earth-directed eruption in quite some time..The solar eruption, called a coronal mass ejection, was spotted by NASA.