Amateur scientists in Canada have helped researchers discover a new type of northern lights.

The glowing ribbon of purple 鈥� and sometimes green 鈥� that runs east-west in the night sky has been observed and photographed by aurora borealis chasers for years.

鈥淢y involvement is being the goofball who named it Steve,鈥� said Chris Ratzlaff, a Calgary photographer who鈥檚 a co-author of a research paper published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

鈥� Phenomenal Steve (@StevePhenomena)

The luminous light, distinct from traditional aurora, was previously undocumented in scientific literature and little was known about how it formed.

What has been learned by scientists at NASA and various universities is that the phenomenon is associated with a subauroral ion drift 鈥� a powerful current created by charged particles in the Earth鈥檚 upper atmosphere. The arc is an optical manifestation of that ion drift.

The research started four or five years ago with the Alberta Aurora Chasers, a Facebook group Ratzlaff helps manage that has grown to about 16,000 members.

鈥淲e have a lot of people who are out staring at the night sky. They are looking up for the northern lights,鈥� he said in an interview. 鈥淪ometimes Steve appears 鈥� and Steve is a phenomenon that kind of likes to hang out over Alberta, over the prairies.鈥�

Photographers put together a large picture library of Steve and took it to scientists at the University of Calgary and, later, to NASA.

Eric Donovan, an associate professor in the department of physics and astronomy at the university, hosted a guest lecture in 2014 by NASA physicist Elizabeth MacDonald.

鈥淭he room was packed and, not only that, it was packed with people I didn鈥檛 know,鈥� said Donovan.

They were members of the aurora chasers group who were involved in MacDonald鈥檚 Aurorasaurus project, which captures descriptions of northern lights on social media to help researchers better understand them.

After the talk, the two scientists went to a nearby pub with some of the aurora chasers.

鈥淭hey started showing me their beautiful, beautiful photos of aurora,鈥� said Donovan.

One of the photographers suggested he got a picture of the proton arc, a rare type of aurora.

鈥淭here is such a thing as proton aurora, but it鈥檚 always sub-visual so they wouldn鈥檛 even know to point a camera to take a picture of it,鈥� said Donovan. 鈥淏ut I said, 鈥榃hy don鈥檛 you show me what you鈥檝e got?鈥�

鈥淗e showed me this beautiful picture of this thing and I don鈥檛 know what this thing is 鈥� and that鈥檚 really amazing because I鈥檝e probably looked at more photos of the aurora that any other living person on the planet right now.鈥�

The photographers said they had been seeing it fairly regularly.

Donovan told him they couldn鈥檛 call it a proton arc, because it didn鈥檛 fit the physical properties. He suggested it needed a non-scientific name.

鈥淚 proposed we call it Steve and it stuck,鈥� said Ratzlaff.

It鈥檚 a reference to the animated movie 鈥淥ver the Hedge鈥� about animals that encounter a giant hedge in their neighbourhood and get scared because they don鈥檛 know what it is.

鈥淭he squirrel comes up and says, 鈥楲et鈥檚 call it Steve鈥� 鈥� and they are all OK with it.鈥�

Ratzlaff said Steve was just meant to be a temporary name, but scientists have decided to keep it 鈥� only it now stands for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement.

Scientists will now try to get a spectrum 鈥� or band of colours 鈥� for Steve by going back to the aurora chasers with a spectrograph they鈥檝e attached to a digital camera.

鈥淭hey are going to drive around and they are going to see Steve sometime in the next few months and they are going to get us a spectrum,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen we get the spectrum, we鈥檒l see the real science starting.鈥�

By Colette Derworiz in Edmonton

The Canadian Press