If your electronics go a little nutty today, it could be the sun's fault. Two days ago, the sun released a solar flare aimed directly at Earth, and scientists estimated it would take a couple days for it to get here.

In addition to causing the "Northern Lights" being visible as far south as southern Illinois, the flare can give electronics and communication systems (like your cell phone) a hard time.

In good news, this solar storm is rather mild. In bad news, the sun is considered to be in an "active cycle" right now (though some other scientists recently suggested this cycle wouldn't be all that active).

Here's more from Space.com:

The solstice solar storm occurred in the early hours of Tuesday and was spotted by the space-based Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) operated by NASA and the European Space Agency, according to the website Spaceweather.com, which monitors space weather and skywatching events.

Spaceweather.com officials said a moderate C7-class solar flare kicked off the solar storm and triggered a massive eruption of plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection.

When coronal mass ejections are aimed at Earth, the charged particles they spew can interact with the planet's magnetic field to create dazzling auroras in polar regions. Extremely powerful solar storms can pose a danger to satellites and astronauts in space, as well as affect communications and power systems on the Earth's surface.

Read the entire article, by Tariq Malik, here.

Further reading from NASA: Getting Ready for the Next Big Solar Storm

And, here's even more from NASA on solar storms and "solar maximum" (think BIG solar storm):