Our planet was showered in a stream of charged particles from the sun in the dark of Sunday and Monday.
The result of the clash of solar andterrestrial particles in Earth's atmosphere caused stunning auroras to appear at lower latitudes than usual, and triggered a surprise appearance from the sky phenomenon known as Steve.
The green and violet light on the camera was caught by Alan Dyer, an astronomy writer and photographer based in southernAlberta, Canada.
A great showing of @STEVEPhenomena last night, Aug 7-8, arcing across the sky, and showing his green fingers briefly for about 2 minutes. STEVE lasted about 40 minutes, appearing as the Kp5 aurora to the north subsided. This was 12:30 am MDT from southern Alberta. @TweetAurora pic.twitter.com/EtKF6udfFkAugust 8, 2022
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Steve lasted about 40 minutes, appearing as the Aurora to the north subsided. Steve likes to appear here more than anywhere else, because he was discovered here.
The ancient Chinese text contains the Earliest documented Aurora.
The sky glow called STEVE was first described by citizens in northern Canada. STEVE is comprised of an enormous ribbon of light, which can hang in the sky for an hour or more, accompanied by a "picket fence" of green light that disappears within a few minutes.
The glowing river of light may look like an Aurora, but it's actually a unique phenomenon that wasn't known to science until it was discovered. Scientists have a better idea of what's happening.
STEVE is a thin line of hot gas that travels hundreds of miles in the sky. Satellite observations show that the hot air inside STEVE moves 500 times faster than the air on each side.
In a region called the subauroral zone, STEVE appears much lower in the sky than it does in the north. According to Live Science, solar particles aren't directly responsible for Steve. Steve usually shows up after the northern lights start to fade during solar storms.
According to one hypothesis, STEVE is the result of a sudden burst of thermal and kinetic energy in the subauroral zone, triggered by the clash of charged particles higher in the atmosphere. There is more research that needs to be done. We can wave back at its green fingers while it is still glowing.
It was originally published on Live Science
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