Discovery of a strange aurora named Steve by canadian astronomer
New Delhi : It was on the twinkling night when an amateur astronomer in Canada came up with a mysterious discovery. Bourassa, IT technician by profession in Regina is an avid skywatcher. On July 25, 2016, he along with his two kids went to watch the colourful dance of the moving light in the night sky- Aurora Borealis. They were enjoy the vibrant sky view when suddenly, in the midnight, he saw a thin purple ribbon of light appeared in the sky which started glowing. Instead of wasting few more seconds, he straight away clicked some pictures and videos of the mysterious light.
Bourassa has good knowledge about Auroras and he knew that purple ribbon of light is not the usual Aurora. It was something extra-ordinary which is accidentally observed. He decided to share his experience with other members in a Facebook group called Alberta Aurora Chasers and came up with a beautiful name ‘STEVE’.
However, the group of amateur astronomers were still unaware of its identity. Yet, they have prepared a project on the same and have submitted to a citizen science project called Aurorasaurus funded by NASA. This kind of platform by NASA is for those who are excited about a science discoveries but don't have a formal educational. The scientists in NASA came to know about Bourassa submitted images and tweets and learned that ‘STEVE’ is not a normal aurora.
Aurora a natural electrical phenomenon which is characterized by the appearance of streamers of strange light in the sky, especially seen in near the northern or southern magnetic pole. Elizabeth Macdonald, a geo- and heliophysicist at Nasa says "Steve is the visible counterpart to a feature in the upper atmosphere called a subauroral ion drift (SAID),” The report mentions that “this narrow, subauroral, visible structure, distinct from the traditional auroral oval, was largely undocumented in the scientific literature and little was known about its formation.” Meaning, Steve is different from standard Aurora. SAIDs appear in those areas which are closer to the equator (like southern Canada) unlike the areas where most auroras can be seen. Scientists also added that they have no idea that SAIDs had a visual component, but the discovery of Steve changes everything.
Experts say Auroras occur when a stream of charged electrons and protons flowing from the Sun – interacts with the Earth's magnetic field, generating strong electrical currents. Though the process of formation of the aurora starts with the Sun bombarding the charged particles toward Earth, but Steve travels along different magnetic field lines than the Aurora, towards the lower altitudes.
The discovery of Steve is vital because of its location in the sub-auroral zone, an area of lower latitude than where most auroras appear. This indicates that the charged particles which create Steve connect to magnetic field lines that are closer to Earth's equator. This might be the reason behind the occurrence of Steve in southern Canada.
By studying Steve Scientists will have better understanding of Earth’s upper atmosphere which have visible and noticeable effects in the lower part of Earth’s atmosphere. “This provides good insight on how Earth's system works as a whole,” said MacDonald. An observation-by-chance of an amateur astronomer is now helping to understand how Earth’s magnetic field interacts with charged particles at different altitudes.
Further, Bourassa said "It is my hope that with our timely reporting of sightings, researchers can study the data so we can together unravel the mystery of Steve's origin, creation, physics and sporadic nature”. "This is exciting because the more I learn about it, the more questions I have,” he added.
The technical name ‘STEVE’ stands for “Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement” is the latest discovery in the field of ‘AURORA’. Hopefully, we will get some more interesting updates about this strange appearance in the days to come.
