The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, has been a puzzle to scientist for over 30 years. The mystery to science was how exactly the phenomenon was started in the atmosphere. According to Space.com, scientists were unsure if the aurora was started as magnetic field lines in the atmosphere reconnected or if the aurora originated closer to Earth as the result of explosive instability. NASA used its five THEMIS spacecraft orbiting the Earth to spot the trigger for the substorms that cause the aurora to develop. The trigger was very strong energy bursts in the Earth's magnetic field. The THEMIS probes monitored the level of energy in the Earth's magnetic field. The probes were able to find substorms that originated in the tail of the Earth's magnetosphere that flows away from the sun.

As energy levels in the magnetic field lines build the lines drew closer to each other until they reconnected. Once the magnetic field lines reconnected a storm was set off in the magnetosphere leading to the aurora borealis. Space scientist Vassilis Angelopoulos from the University of California in L.A. told Space.com, "We discovered what sparks the magnificent light show of the aurora. Our data show clearly and for the first time that magnetic reconnection is the trigger." According to the scientists, the better they can understand the storms that spark the aurora, the better they will be able to prepare for or predict space weather events that can interfere with communications and endanger any astronauts in orbit at the time.