An unknown phenomenon “STEVE” hit North America

Scientists recorded on August 7 and 8 an unexpectedsolar storm, as a result of which streams of charged particles literally literally fell on the Earth's atmosphere. This has led to the emergence of the northern lights at much lower latitudes than usual. But the most interesting thing happened in southern Canada. Here, after the northern lights, a mysterious celestial phenomenon was recorded, which was named STEVE. It appears as streaks of various shades of purple light with green flashes. This phenomenon over Canada lasted for 40 minutes and was photographed. What is STEW and why this phenomenon occurs is not known for certain, but what are the assumptions about this? Scientists already have some data on this subject.

The mysterious phenomenon "STEVE" scientists managed to capture in the photo

What is "STEVE"

Atmospheric phenomenon "STEVE" was first discoverednot so long ago - in 2017. It also happened in Canada. A strange glow was recorded by a group of amateur astronomers led by Chris Ratzlaff. Initially, they mistook the bright streak of light for a proton aurora. However, scientists at the University of Calgary, having studied the photo, came to the conclusion that this is not a proton glow at all, since it is not impossible for the human eye to see it. The phenomenon turned out to be unexplored and generally unknown.

When scientists compared the time and place of the phenomenon withinformation received from the Swarm satellite, they were finally convinced that we were talking about a mysterious phenomenon. However, data from the same satellite somewhat clarified the situation. As it turned out, the glow was caused by an elongated cloud of hot gas with a length of 25 km and a temperature of 3 thousand degrees Celsius.

The mysterious glow is caused by gases heated to 3000 degrees Celsius

The cloud was at an altitude of 300 km and was movingat a speed of 6 km / s, that is, the cloud moved 500 times faster than the flows around it. Later it turned out that the phenomenon is not so rare, but scientists have not previously studied it.

What does the name "STEVE" mean?

What does the name STEVE mean?It was invented by Chris Ratzlaff. By the way, initially the name had nothing to do with science. The astronomer just remembered the cartoon "The Woodland Fellows", in which the characters, when faced with something inexplicable, gave him the name "Steve".

Later NASA employee, Elizabeth McDonaldproposed a decoding for this name - “Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement”, which in Russian means “a strong increase in the speed of thermal radiation”. The name was given temporarily, but it seems that it has already become permanent.

The STEEV phenomenon occurs during solar storms only in certain parts of the planet.

Why the “STEVE” Phenomenon Occurs

The aurora borealis, as is known, arises from thatthe reason that charged solar particles crash into the molecules of the Earth's upper atmosphere. This phenomenon occurs in those parts of our planet where the magnetic field is the weakest, that is, near the magnetic poles.

Since in the rest of the planet the magneticthe field repels solar particles, they do not collide with the upper layers. Accordingly, the aurora borealis theoretically cannot arise. However, in the case of strong solar storms, as we said above, the auroras occur at lower latitudes. We talked about this in more detail in an article devoted to a spot on the Sun.

STEW occurs in the subauroral zone, at an altitude of 300 km

The “STEVE” phenomenon, unlike the northern lights,occurs much closer to Earth. A cloud of hot gases is recorded in an area called the subauroral zone. From this we can conclude that solar particles are not directly related to this phenomenon.

But why then does the phenomenon occur duringsolar storms? The current situation in Canada is further proof of this. Moreover, as we said above, “STEVE” appeared when the northern lights began to subside.

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According to one hypothesis, STEVE isa consequence of the release of kinetic and thermal energy that occurs in the subauroral zone. Scientists still can not say for what reason this emission occurs? But, presumably, it is caused by the collision of charged particles in the higher layers of the atmosphere. This explains why "STEVE" only appears during solar storms.

However, it should be understood that this is onlyassumptions that may be wrong. To find out why “STEVE” actually occurs, scientists need to do research. Obviously, in the near future we will receive more accurate and detailed information. But already now we can say with confidence that STEW is a much less dangerous phenomenon for the inhabitants of the Earth than magnetic storms.