As the sun reaches its peak solar activity 11 years ago, the sky witnesses repeated displays of the aurora borealis, but some of these displays may not be aurora at all.
Scientists indicate that this aurora-like phenomenon may be "Steve", which scientists identified in 2018, as a new type of light phenomenon in the night sky, which looks like a band of white and purple light.
NASA explained that "STEVE" is an abbreviation for the English phrase Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, meaning "strong thermal emission velocity enhancement."
New research reveals that the physical process behind STEVE and a similar phenomenon called picket fence is nothing like what creates the aurora borealis, according to the University of California, Berkeley.
The research was written by Claire Gaske, a graduate student in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, who worked with other scientists in the university's Space Sciences Laboratory.
The paper says there are electric fields at low altitudes that exist parallel to the Earth's magnetic field that produces "Steve" and "wedge fences," according to the University of California, Berkeley, something that was previously thought impossible.
"The really interesting thing about Claire's research is that we've known for a couple of years that Steve's spectrum tells us there's some very strange physics going on," said Brian Harding, co-author of the paper. "But we didn't know what it was."
"Clear's research showed that parallel electric fields are able to explain this strange spectrum," he added.
Gaskey and her team suggested that NASA launch a rocket through the aurora borealis and eventually through STEVE and the picket fence to see if she was right.
“This would upend our model of what creates the light and energy in the aurora in some cases,” Gaskey noted. “It's one of the biggest mysteries in space physics right now.”
Russia : innovation of a nanocomposite to purify water
Scientists at Tomsk University of Technical Sciences, in cooperation with scientists from Russian scientific centers and institutions, have created a magnetic nanocomposite to purify water from pollutants, which can adsorb heavy metal ions.
The Nano-Structures & Nano-Objects website indicates that the innovative nanocomposite can adsorb heavy metal ions, such as arsenic and fluorine, as well as organic dyes and microorganisms. Experiments to purify a contaminated aqueous solution showed that the nanocomposite absorbed 81 percent of the arsenic ions within one minute.
According to the explanation of Professor Roman Sormenev, one of the contributors to the study, the nanocomposite consists of a mixture of several materials, the dimensions of which can reach 100 nanometers. The researchers obtained it by growing magnetite nanoparticles (iron oxide Fe3O4) on the surface of a two-dimensional material - graphene oxide, which was previously manufactured at the university.
The innovative nanocomposite has unique properties, including its ability to absorb heavy metal ions, organic dyes and microorganisms.
The professor points out that iron oxide provides the nanocomposite with magnetic properties, and graphene oxide increases its area of influence and improves its electrical properties. So these properties make it promising not only for liquid filtration, but also for use in microelectronics.
“We are the first to determine the saturation point for the amount of pure-phase Fe3O4 nanoparticles on the graphene oxide (RGO) surface, when magnetite nanoparticles grow, but not other iron oxides,” he says.
A group of university scientists is currently studying the process of dynamic absorption of the nanocomposite to improve its use in filtration processes similar to those used in home filters to purify water.
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