During Monday's surprise geomagnetic storm, hot ribbons of plasma flowed through Earth's magnetosphere. Alan Dyer saw one of them near Gleichen, Alberta:
The name of this phenomenon is "STEVE"--short for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement. It was also sighted in Montana and Pennsylvania.
"We had a superb showing of STEVE over southern Alberta," says Dyer. "The ribbon stretched across the entire sky, peaking in intensity around 12:30 am MDT"
STEVE is a recent discovery. It looks like an aurora, but it is not. The purple glow is caused by hot (3000°C) ribbons of gas flowing through Earth’s magnetosphere at speeds exceeding 6 km/s (13,000 mph). It appears during some geomagnetic storms, often alongside a type of green aurora known as the "picket fence," also shown in Dyer's photo.
more images: from Jacob Eubank of Whitefish, Montana; from Sujay Singh of Wayne County, Pennsylvania;
en.wikipedia.org
The name of this phenomenon is "STEVE"--short for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement. It was also sighted in Montana and Pennsylvania.
"We had a superb showing of STEVE over southern Alberta," says Dyer. "The ribbon stretched across the entire sky, peaking in intensity around 12:30 am MDT"
STEVE is a recent discovery. It looks like an aurora, but it is not. The purple glow is caused by hot (3000°C) ribbons of gas flowing through Earth’s magnetosphere at speeds exceeding 6 km/s (13,000 mph). It appears during some geomagnetic storms, often alongside a type of green aurora known as the "picket fence," also shown in Dyer's photo.
more images: from Jacob Eubank of Whitefish, Montana; from Sujay Singh of Wayne County, Pennsylvania;