When the sun blasts a packet of energetic particles our way, beautiful auroras come out to play: ribbons of vibrant lights dancing about in the sky close to the north and south magnetic poles. But every now and then, a mysterious fuzzy patch of auroral lights hovers over the North Pole. It hasn’t been clear what these lights are or what’s producing them, particularly as they have appeared during quiet periods for the sun.

An international team of scientists may have finally figured it out. These spots could be the northern lights rotating in an unorthodox spiral shape similar to the familiar shape of a hurricane—a phenomenon the team has dubbed a “space hurricane.”

While combing reams of data collected