Recently a citizen scientist had discovered a new mysterious atmospheric phenomenon. It was a strange new Aurora feature, which was verified by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Swarm satellites. The discovery was made by Eric Donovan, a researcher at the University of Calgary in Canada.

The Aurora was named "Steve" right after Donovan coordinated with a group of people of social media to match sightings of the feature with data from the Swarm satellites. The ESA's satellites are usually used to measure the Earth's magnetic fields. These Auroras are generated when charged particles are ejected from the sun, later they are drawn to Earth's north and south poles by the planet's magnetic field as per Space.

When these Aurora's hit the neutral particles in the upper atmosphere it splashes different colors of light in the sky. The process is similar to the Northern Lights, and this discovery was made by Donovan and a group of aurora-watchers. They found a stunningly vibrant, purple, ribbon-like light stretching across the northern Canadian sky.

According to Travel and Leisure, Donovan discovered this by using a high-tech instrument. Later on, Donovan matched the sightings of the light with data from the ESA's Swarm satellites. The phenomenon called "Steve" had never been captured with these scientific tools before, even though it is remarkably common.

"Steve" is an estimated 15 to 18-mile wide arc aligning east to west that extends for potentially thousands of miles. The light that is emitted from Steve can last for as long as an hour. However, it is rarely seen between October and February.

Donovan further stated that scientists could never have pinpointed Steve by themselves. It required tools and high-end technology to get accurate documentation. With groups on social media and like minded people citizen scientists have the option to discover new things with the help of research.