Unusual gray lines in Auroras: Scientists request public to document the phenomenon

The sun raged in earnest, and auroras even in the Middle Latitudes became an ordinary phenomenon. Tens of thousands of people gazed upward and saw something unfamiliar—a new enigma in the night sky.

At first, the appearance of “red lights” caused quite a stir. A crimson fog covered the sky, sparking questions and curiosity. Scientists initially offered explanations: a red aurora should be observed from the Middle Belt, which is also higher. However, a new, unsettling phenomenon emerged. People began to witness a peculiar gray light, appearing between the traditional red and green stripes. Researchers at the University of Calgary (Canada) reluctantly admitted that this was indeed a new natural phenomenon, which had been previously reported in an article in Nature.

“You see dynamic green stripes, you see a red glow in their background, and – suddenly, a white or gray spot. Well, how do you understand this?” exclaimed Dr. Emma Spanswick with a mixture of astonishment and excitement.

Red and green colors are understood to be the glow of oxygen and nitrogen under the influence of cosmic radiation. But what was this mysterious white (or gray) light? Researchers extended their gratitude to amateur photographers, whose hundreds of photos helped to recognize the phenomenon. They then used powerful equipment to uncover its true nature.

Unexpectedly, it was discovered that the gray glow was linked to two other rare phenomena. One was luminous streaks across the sky, known as “Steve,” first identified in 2017. The other was the faint glow of the night sky, which occurs every night but is not easily noticeable.

However, the problem remains: the nature of Steve himself is still shrouded in mystery. The Canadian researchers proposed a hypothesis that the gray light is not the result of nuclear processes, but chemical reactions in the atmosphere. The auroras, it seemed, were more complex than previously thought. The size of the gray spots spanned hundreds of kilometers. As the auroras raged, they emitted heat, triggering chemical reactions with the atoms in the air. But what atoms, and how these interactions occurred, remains unknown.

Scientists urged amateur astronomers, and the public at large, to observe the auroras more frequently. They encouraged taking photos, even with phones, as these could provide valuable information. They pondered the mystery: was this phenomenon always present, unnoticed until now? Or had it appeared recently? If so, what was happening in our atmosphere, and what could it mean for us?

Voices began to whisper that something had fundamentally changed in the upper atmosphere. Radio waves no longer propagated as they once did, the weather grew increasingly strange, and now there were gray lights. Some speculated that human experiments had damaged the ionosphere, the critical layer of charged particles above us. Others suggested that we simply did not yet fully understand the natural world around us.

Mystery hung in the night sky, as the auroras danced and whispered their secrets to those who dared to look and wonder.