Sun storm to hit with 'force of 100 million hydrogen bombs' (Peter Farquhar)

Aug. 25, 2010 (news.com.au) -- AFTER 10 years of comparative slumber, the sun is waking up -- and it's got astronomers on full alert.

This week several U.S. media outlets reported that NASA was warning the massive flare that caused spectacular light shows on Earth earlier this month was just a precursor to a massive solar storm building that had the potential to wipe out the entire planet's power grid.

NASA has since rebutted those reports, saying it could come "100 years away or just 100 days," but an Australian astronomer says the space community is betting on the sooner scenario rather than the latter.

Despite its rebuttal, NASA's been watching out for this storm since 2006 and reports from the United States this week claim the storms could hit on that most Hollywood of disaster dates -- 2012.

Similar storms back in 1859 and 1921 caused worldwide chaos, wiping out telegraph wires on a massive scale.

The 2012 storm has the potential to be even more disruptive.

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