Steve is not an aurora but is often associated with its better known cousin, the aurora borealis - or Northern Lights - which was also captured across parts of the UK on Sunday. The much rarer ...

"You'd see this structured—almost like a patch—grey-toned or white toned-emission connected to the aurora," said researcher Emma Spanswick.

STEVE appears as a ribbon of light. Thank you to the photographers for their photo contributions to this article.

A new discovery has unveiled the origin of a strange whitish-grey patch seen with the northern lights. This phenomenon, now termed a "structured continuum emission," offers fresh insight into the ...