MEET STEVE

BY SAMANTHA HILL

In 2015, citizen scientists began tracking a long, streaking pattern across the night sky. Resembling a purple ribbon with distinctive green picket-fence bars, the phenomenon was later dubbed Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, or STEVE. Since then, researchers have been working to understand the forces fueling it. Although auroras and STEVE can have a similar appearance, especially to casual observers, they are not the same. Auroras form when charged particles in the magnetosphere run into atoms in the atmosphere, resulting in curtainlike arcs of light. STEVE, however, is caused by a stream of hot, fast-moving ions vibrating nitric oxide molecules to create a narrow, mauve-colored glow. These light bands occur between 80 to 170 miles above Earth’s surface, and can last anywhere from minutes to hours. STEVE also can pop up…

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Discover (Digital) - 1 Issue, July/August 2024

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