A new atmospheric phenomenon has been discovered by aurora photographers and citizen scientists, who named it "Steve."
Originally, the light was thought to be a proton arc by aurora watchers. However, when associate professor at the University of Calgary, Eric Donovan, saw the photos, he knew that could not be.
Professor Donovan did not recognize the lights in the photos since proton auroras are not visible. He and his colleagues went to the European Space Agency's Swarm - constellation of satellites focused on the magnetic field of Earth - to know more about it.
They observed the ground sightings of the arc and paired it with the actions of the Swarm. Professor Donovan was able to measure an instance of Steve. The Swarm satellite traveled across the phenomenon at a range of 300 kilometers beyond the surface of the Earth and reported a temperature of 3,000 degrees Celsius.
The information collected revealed a 25 km-wide ribbon of gas that runs at a faster rate, opposed to the 10m/s measured on both sides of the ribbon. Professor Donovan explains that Steve appears frequently, but no one noticed it until now. Currently, he is working on relevant theories with his colleague to publish.
Meanwhile, the name Steve is based on the movie "Over the Hedge," in which the characters used the name when they are not sure about something.