That purple glow in the night sky? That’s STEVE.
STEVE, or Strong Thermal Emission Rate Enhancement, is an atmospheric phenomenon that accompanies auroras, such as the northern lights, more commonly known as the aurora borealis, which has been observed this week across the United States.
The band of violet light, often bordered by green spots, is the result of magnetic storms, which are commonly caused by plasma explosions from the sun and are known to disrupt GPS systems or power grids on Earth.
Energized particles emitted by the sun hurtling toward Earth are redirected by our magnetic field toward our poles, creating auroras as they enter the atmosphere, according to Space.com.
STEVE is not created from charged particles, but is actually a gas: the mauve stream forms as a result of the hot atmosphere and fast travel, which occurs at an altitude of 62 to 124 miles.
STEVE appears as a violet streak, sometimes bordered by a green glow, in the night sky alongside an aurora. ZUMAPRESS.com
STEVE in heaven earlier this year. Julie Smith/Story Image Agency/Shutterstock
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STEVE is the result of hot, fast-moving gas in the upper atmosphere. Julie Smith/Story Image Agency/Shutterstock
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Magnetic storms cause rivers of scorching, fast-moving gas.
“The atmosphere is heated by very fast plasma currents colliding with neutral gas,” Toshi Nishimura, an associate professor at Boston University’s School of Engineering and co-author of the initial report on STEVE in 2018, told Space.com.
STEVE first caught the attention of “citizen scientists” in 2015 and 2016: they posted the brilliant celestial sightings online.
Originally, STEVE was referred to simply as Steve, named after the terrifying, insurmountable hedge in the animated film “Over the Hedge” to make him appear less threatening.
Researchers later reverse engineered the name, turning Steve into an acronym.
Auroras are different from STEVE, the latter being the result of hot, fast-moving streams of gas. UPI
Auroras are the result of charged particles coming into contact with the Earth’s magnetosphere. ZUMAPRESS.com
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Auroras are usually green, pink and red. Yvette Cardozo
An aurora over Wales in September. Matthew Browne / SWNS
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Elizabeth MacDonald, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and co-author of the 2018 STEVE report, praised amateur aurora hunters, who were essential to researching the phenomenon.
They were able to capture what dedicated science cameras couldn’t because STEVE appears at different wavelengths than usual auroras, MacDonald told Space.com.
STEVE was recently discovered by keen stargazers in the UK and parts of Europe last weekend, and experts were hoping to see the brilliant spectacle more often due to the predicted increase in solar activity.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn