The phenomenon similar to a polar glow revealed a secret double: occurs before dawn (photo)

It turned out that an atmospheric phenomenon known as Steve has a double that stretches in the opposite direction. The atmospheric phenomenon of Steve (in English - Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement - a strong increase in the speed of thermal radiation) is a glow in an atmosphere, similar to a polar radiance. It is a long strip of purple light.

According to a study published in Earth, Planets and Space, although Steve appears to midnight and stretches from east to west, there is a similar phenomenon in the opposite direction before dawn, Space writes. In focus. Technology has appeared its Telegram channel. Subscribe not to miss the latest and most intrusive news from the world of science! For the first time Steve was discovered in the sky over Canada in 2016 during the observation of the Arctic Glow.

It was a long strip of purple light, which stood out among the green and red polar glow. It is now believed that Steve, although not a polar glow, still arises in the same way as this phenomenon. When the plasma that has left the sun as a result of the coronal release of the mass reaches the atmosphere of the Earth, at an altitude of about 300 km, it heats the gases to a temperature of approximately 3000 degrees Celsius. The result is a glow of hot in purple.

According to scientists, Steve mostly has a width of about 25 km and a length of several hundred kilometers. Earlier, scientists have found that hot gas moves from east to west at a speed of approximately 6 km/s, while the speed of movement of atmospheric gases on each side is 10 km/s. Astronomers knew that in the mirror reflection, a similar flow of gas flows east before dawn. But no bright visual component, such as Steve, has never been seen in connection with this flow.

After viewing the archival data of observations of the polar glows, scientists discovered a purple strip of light, similar to Steve, which appeared before dawn. After that, scientists found that two Swarm satellites were measured in the upper atmosphere during this period of time. The authors of the study found that this flow of purple light corresponds to the flow of hot gas that goes east. That is the secret double of Steve.

According to scientists, they expect new discoveries in the Earth's atmosphere, because the peak of the sun activity will soon come, and therefore there is a likelihood of identifying other unusual atmospheric phenomena. As the focus has already written, the element needed for life was found in the earliest universe, where it should not be. This discovery increases the likelihood that living conditions existed almost from the very beginning of the history of the universe.