And last year, an Italian locksmith captured the first ever shot of a supernova's first light. In 2013, dashcams proved to be crucial to understanding a small asteroid that struck Russia. STEVEs are far from the only important scientific finds that have been made on commercial devices. “As commercial cameras become more sensitive and increased excitement about the aurora spreads via social media, citizen scientists can act as a ‘mobile sensor network,’ and we are grateful to them for giving us data to analyze,” says Toshi Nishimura, a space physicist at Boston University and lead author of the new study, in the release. Learning about them has been an effort showcasing the strength of amateur-professional scientific alliances. Scientists completely missed STEVEs until amateurs brought the odd lights to their attention. “The precipitating electrons that cause the green picket fence are thus aurora, though this occurs outside the auroral zone, so it’s indeed unique.” What's the distinction? “Aurora is defined by particle precipitation, electrons and protons actually falling into our atmosphere, whereas the STEVE atmospheric glow comes from heating without particle precipitation,” says Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, a space physicist at the University of Calgary and coauthor of the new study, in the release.
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