Imagine being told a storm is heading your way, but you won't know how bad the winds are or whether they'll knock out power until just minutes before it hits. That's the challenge scientists face when it comes to predicting solar storms.
We've come a long way in understanding space weather. We can spot solar storm eruptions, track their speed, and estimate when they'll arrive at Earth, sometimes with up to a day's warning. However, one critical piece of information remains frustratingly out of reach until the last moment: the orientation of the storm's magnetic field, known as the Bz component.
