Solar activity seen by a NASA satellite in Oct. 2003. A geomagnetic storm swept toward Earth at 2 million mph, disrupting oil and gas drilling and causing a blackout in Malmo, Sweden. (AP Photo/NASA)

(Bloomberg) — Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the sun. Oh, but Mama, that’s where the fun is.

No one understands that Bruce Springsteen song more than William Murtagh. In a small government office near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Murtagh and other federal employees monitor the sun 24 hours a day, waiting for it to erupt and fling a cloud of superheated, supercharged gas toward Earth.

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