Excerpt from "Dynamic Earth"

[longknife]

A giant explosion of magnetic energy from the sun, called a coronal mass ejection, slams into and is deflected completely by the Earth's powerful magnetic field. The sun also continually sends out streams of light and radiation energy. Earth's atmosphere acts like a radiation shield, blocking quite a bit of this energy.

A “Wow!” of an article with pictures @ SVS Animation 11003 - Excerpt from "Dynamic Earth"