Eerie Sky Glow Called 'Steve' Isn't an Aurora, Is 'Completely Unknown' to Science

[Eugene]

Source: Live Science

Eerie Sky Glow Called 'Steve' Isn't an Aurora, Is 'Completely Unknown' to Science

By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer | August 21, 2018 07:00am ET

Late at night on July 25, 2016, a thin river of purple light slashed through the skies of northern Canada in an arc that seemed to stretch hundreds of miles into space. It was a magnificent, mysterious, borderline-miraculous sight, and the group of citizen skywatchers who witnessed it decided to give the phenomenon a fittingly majestic name: "Steve."

Given its coincidence with the northern lights, Steve was just thought to be part of the aurora — the shimmering sheets of nighttime color that appear in the sky when charged plasma particles streak out of the sun, sail across space on solar winds and jolt down Earth's magnetic field toward the planet's poles. However, a new study published today (Aug. 20) in the journal Geophysical Research Letters suggests that such a simple explanation might not apply.

According to researchers at the University of Calgary in Canada and the University of California, Los Angeles, Steve does not contain the telltale traces of charged particles blasting through Earth's atmosphere that auroras do. Steve, therefore, is not an aurora at all, but something entirely different: a mysterious, largely unexplained phenomenon that the researchers have dubbed a "sky glow."

"Our main conclusion is that STEVE is not an aurora," lead study author Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, a space physicist at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, said in a statement. "So right now, we know very little about it. And that's the cool thing."

-snip-

Read more: https://www.livescience.com/63385-steve-not-aurora-mystery-phenomenon.html

[krispos42]

1. I see somebody is a fan of the movie "Over the Hedge"...

😀

[CrispyQ]

3. Ha!

Not familiar with the movie, so that's why I didn't get it. I thought it was a crummy name.

[krispos42]

4. here ya go

Wonderful movie!

[CrispyQ]

5. Cute.

Thanks.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. That was a fun film.

esp. the possum falling over the way it did.

[CrispyQ]

2. Cool!

But a on the name. Steve. Really? I would have called it Saber.

[SWBTATTReg]

6. Perhaps with so much material surrounding the earth now with all ...

of the satellites and debris, that a ring is forming around the earth? A wild speculation but we do have rings around other planets in our solar system...

Very interesting...

[LakeSuperiorView]

10. We have a ginormus moon compared to the other planets.

We would need a major, major collision (no collision, no collision...) to rip a sizable chunk off the Moon to form a ring. And it would take a long time for one to form. The sum total of matter lifted into orbit by humans is far, far less than what it would take to form a visible ring.

[Midnight Writer]

7. Looks like The Rapture to me. If you are reading this, you have been Left Behind.

[defacto7]

8. We've all been left behind.

God said screw you all and left.

[ret5hd]

11. Oh shit...Eric Cartman is god!!!

[defacto7]

9. Check out this STEVE

Steve

[Bayard]

12. Looks like the Nexus to me......

Takes you back to your best memory in time.....

[yuiyoshida]

13. make it so

[Solly Mack]

15. ...

[lastlib]

16. hahahahahahahahahahahaha...!!!

that's one of the funniest videos ever put on the internet!

[Judi Lynn]

17. Soooooo good. Thank you. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

18. Will there EVER be a song made for Steve?

[classof56]

19. This comes close!

"Paint Your Wagon" was filmed over in Eastern Oregon, and every year Baker City has a "Paint Your Wagon" celebration. 50th anniversary coming up fast!

I LOVE this song, always bring memories and a sense of nostalgia. Not to mention that glorious voice of Harve Presnell to soothe one's soul.

Thanks for posting.

[Judi Lynn]

20. Glad to hear you like it. It has always seemed exceptional to me. Thank you! n/t