# New atmospheric phenomenon discovered: Steve



## Brian G Turner (Apr 23, 2017)

Aurora photographers find new night sky lights and call them Steve - BBC News

Quote:
A group of aurora enthusiasts have found a new type of light in the night sky and named it Steve.

Eric Donovan from the University of Calgary in Canada spotted the feature in photos shared on a Facebook group.

He did not recognise it as a catalogued phenomenon and although the group were calling it a proton arc, he knew proton auroras were not visible.

Testing showed it appeared to be a hot stream of fast-flowing gas in the higher reaches of the atmosphere.

The European Space Agency (ESA) sent electric field instruments to measure it 300km (190 miles) above the surface of the Earth and found the temperature of the air was 3,000C (5,432F) hotter inside the gas stream than outside it.

Inside, the 25km-wide ribbon of gas was flowing at 6 km/s (13,000mph), 600 times faster than the air on either side.

Relatively little else is known about the big purple light as yet but it appears it is not an aurora as it does not stem from the interaction of solar particles with the Earth's magnetic field.

There are reports that the group called it Steve in homage to a 2006 children's film, Over the Hedge, where the characters give the name to a creature they have not seen before.


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## Danny McG (Apr 23, 2017)

I started reading this, saw they called it Steve and immediately thought of 'Over the Hedge', -simply because I've sat through it this afternoon with 3 year old grandson.

Very strange lights though.


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## Alexa (May 4, 2017)

it's very confusing. How do we know it's not the trace left by an airplane ?


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## Vertigo (May 4, 2017)

You wouldn't see that lit up at night and from the report it says that NASA have now measured the phenomenon with instruments.


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## Ursa major (May 4, 2017)

I can't believe that they didn't call it Smiley McSmileyface....


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## Vaz (May 4, 2017)

Or lights McLightylights.

Over the hedge is great, though. Love the squirrel


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## Vertigo (May 4, 2017)

The squirrel (Hammy) was awesome, particularly on the caffeine drink


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## Vaz (May 4, 2017)

Yes! When time slows down for him


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## Biskit (May 4, 2017)

Alexa said:


> How do we know it's not the trace left by an airplane


I doubt you'd get 3,000C temperatures out of aircraft exhaust - this is getting on for twice the melting point of things like steel and titanium.  You also need something to be constantly maintaining the temperature and/or keeping the hot plasma together, otherwise it would disperse quite quickly, so this has to be something more than just stray exhaust gases.  And 300km up is higher than you would find aircraft - commercial airliner cruising altitudes are around 12km up.


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## Venusian Broon (May 4, 2017)

Biskit said:


> And 300km up is higher than you would find aircraft - commercial airliner cruising altitudes are around 12km up.



Apparently, according to Wikipedia, the US designates anyone who travel above an altitude of 80km as astronauts and the unofficial working definition of where 'space' starts is about 100km up.

300km is actually quite close to where you would find the International Space Station.


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## Stephen Palmer (May 5, 2017)

I wonder if the formal version is with the v or the ph ?


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## Ursa major (May 5, 2017)

Venusian Broon said:


> the International Space Station.


You mean Spacey McSpaceface, don't you?


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## SilentRoamer (May 5, 2017)

Steve is probably a better name than Shiny McLightface


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## Brian G Turner (Aug 23, 2018)

Well, this phenomenon remains mysterious - but recent analysis suggests it's not related to aurora: New kind of aurora is not an aurora at all


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## HareBrain (Aug 23, 2018)

Brian G Turner said:


> recent analysis suggests it's not related to aurora



Steve and Aurora are cousins. They were at my friend's wedding.


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## Vertigo (Aug 23, 2018)

Brian G Turner said:


> Well, this phenomenon remains mysterious - but recent analysis suggests it's not related to aurora: New kind of aurora is not an aurora at all


That suggests that the ESA report (or the journalist reporting it) was jumping the gun a little in their interpretation. That interpretation is still only a 'maybe.'


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## tinkerdan (Aug 23, 2018)

This reminds me of light pillars created by ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Light pillar - Wikipedia


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## RJM Corbet (Aug 23, 2018)

Canada is (outrageously) huge and beautiful, especially the sky


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## Harpo (Mar 3, 2019)

And last month over Iceland, there was an aurora dragon, possibly unrelated to Steve but where else might this be posted?


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## Brian G Turner (Nov 30, 2019)

Steve's making the news again - and still remains mysterious:









						Steve over the picket fence
					

Strange ribbons of purple light that appeared in the sky—known as Steve—became the subject of debate in 2017, as their origins were unbeknown to scientists. Now, photographs of this remarkable phenomena have been studied to understand their exact position in the night sky.




					phys.org


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## J Riff (Nov 30, 2019)

Good ol' Steve Fastgas.


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## Stephen Palmer (Nov 30, 2019)

It's publicity for His Dark Materials on the telly...


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## Ursa major (Nov 30, 2019)

Stephen Palmer said:


> It's publicity for His Dark Materials on the telly


I suppose that it was inevitable that there'd be a show-off amongst those daemons....


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## Brian G Turner (Feb 4, 2020)

Another new phenomenon with aurorae - Dunes:








						Citizen scientists discover a new type of aurora: Dunes
					

A new type of aurora, called dunes, has been found due to the work of "amateur" aurora chasers.




					www.syfy.com


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## olive (Feb 4, 2020)

Those pics in the article -the first one besides the topic and the 2nd- looks like moving to my eyes. Does anyone else see it that way?


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