An ultraviolet telescope installed on the Russian satellite "Lomonosov" has discovered a phenomenon unknown to science in the earth's atmosphere. Mikhail Panasyuk, director of the Research Institute of Nuclear Physics at Moscow State University, told about this in an interview with RIA Novosti.
According to Panasyuk, the telescope recorded powerful light explosions, the nature of which is not yet clear. “It looks like we came across new physical phenomena. During the flight of the Lomonosov at an altitude of several tens of kilometers, we several times recorded a light explosion of enormous power. And under it everything is clear, no thunderstorms and clouds! What causes the explosion is an open question,”Panasyuk said.
The scientist explained that various flashes of ultraviolet radiation occur in the Earth's atmosphere. Specialists already know sprites (electrical discharges in the mesosphere and thermosphere) and elves (huge weakly luminous flashes in the upper part of a thundercloud), but this is only a part of them. In addition, flares of anthropogenic origin enter the atmosphere - for example, a telescope records airport lights. This prevents him from registering cosmic rays of extremely high energies of natural origin.
The Russian scientific satellite "Mikhailo Lomonosov" is designed to conduct cosmological research, study transient light phenomena in the Earth's upper atmosphere, as well as the radiation characteristics of the magnetosphere. The device was launched in April 2016 during the first ever launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome.
In the summer of 2018, a malfunction occurred in the scientific part of the equipment. Experts keep in touch with the satellite and continue to try to restore faulty systems.