It is not just the size and the strength of solar storms that threaten power grids, disable satellites, and scramble radio signals on Earth; it’s also the fact that large holes can form in Earth's protective magnetosphere—even during what were presumed to be periods of peaceful coalignments of solar and terrestrial magnetic fields. Scientists had thought that when the Sun's magnetic field was aligned with Earth's, the planet was safely cocooned within its protective bubble because Earth's magnetic field would deflect the electrically charged particles streaming from the Sun, similar to the way two magnets repel each other when their poles are aligned. Observations from NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions During Substorms (THEMIS) satellite network, however, show otherwise.