An aurora from the ground at Yellowknife, NT in December 2004. Without magnetic storms, aurora would be featureless glows in the sky. Magnetic fields provide the pathways for currents to flow into the atmosphere in particular patterns controlled by the magnetic forces and their changes through time. (Courtesy: Andrew Eaton)
This image appears in the Technology Through Time article, #61: "What Causes An Auroral Storm?".
The August 4, 1972 solar flare was so powerful that, by some estimates, a spacesuited astronaut would have received a lethal does of radiation.