• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

STEVE, The Purple Aurora-Like Phenomenon, Has A Mysterious Morning Twin

June 6, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

In recent years skywatchers have been increasingly fascinated by the phenomenon known as STEVE, initially thought to be a type of aurora, but now recognized as being a sort of cousin. However, all STEVEs have been spotted before midnight – and not just because that is when amateurs are out taking photographs. A mirror image is expected between midnight and dawn, but has only now been found in a previously overlooked photograph from 2021, with the help of the European Space Agency’s Swarm satellites.

Advertisement

The auroras of early May alerted more people than ever before to the wonders of space weather, thanks to phone cameras, social media and early alerts. In recent years, those same developments have helped scientists learn that solar activity triggers other sorts of phenomena high in the atmosphere. These tend to occur in association with auroras, and can easily be confused with them, but involve different mechanisms.

Advertisement

Particular interest has focused on what was originally called Steve, now rebranded Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE). As we have come to understand STEVE’s causes, atmospheric physicists have concluded it should only be possible for STEVEs to occur before midnight, something matched in all observations. But does STEVE turn into a pumpkin at the witching hour, or is there a matching phenomenon before dawn?

A search to settle that has revealed a series of image taken on December 28, 2021 from the  Ramfjordmoen Research Station, Norway, as well as some less clear ones nine years earlier.

STEVEs are thought to be caused by streams of hot gas called sub-auroral ion drift (SAID). These move westward in the evening towards the now set Sun. After midnight the movement of the gas reverses, heading east in the direction of the future sunrise and is known as dawnside auroral polarization stream (DAPS). 

Both SAID and DAPS are triggered by solar coronal mass ejections, just as auroras are, which is why they occur together. The question was whether DAPS are sufficient to trigger counter-STEVEs, or if there is an asymmetry that prevents that occurring.

Advertisement

Amateur skywatcher are likely to head to their beds by midnight, particularly in polar regions where the nights are cold. Many research cameras still use black and white, making it hard to distinguish auroral green from STEVE-like purple – but the Ramfjordmoen all-sky camera uses color, and doesn’t quit.

Searching through archives of its observations, photographer Gabriel Arne Hofstra spotted two sets of images taken after midnight showing the STEVE’s tell-tale mauve coloring, next to classic green. Still, claiming to have identified a new phenomenon based on a handful of photographs over two nights might trigger the same response as a grainy image purporting to be Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. Hofstra and colleagues knew they needed evidence these coincided with an eastward hot gas stream in the right location.

The first signs of the not-STEVE showed up an hour and a half after midnight local time, lasting about 30 minutes.

The first signs of the not-STEVE showed up an hour and a half after midnight local time, lasting about 30 minutes.

Image Credit: Ramfjordmoen Research Station

They checked the records of the European Space Agency’s three Swarm satellites, launched in 2013, and found two of them had been close enough to measure electric field conditions coinciding with the 2021 event. These revealed a current caused by a rapid eastward ion flow. The observed event differs from a STEVE in one way – it is closer to the pole than the true aurora, whereas STEVEs are at lower latitudes than simultaneous auroras. This makes the morning phenomenon even harder to catch.

The path of the Swarm A and B satellites and the passage of electric charges they recorded.

The path of the Swarm A and B satellites and the passage of electric charges they recorded.

Image Credit: Nanjo, S., Hofstra, G.A., Shiokawa, K. et al./Earth, Planets and Space.

“As a scientist, collaborating with a photographer to uncover this new phenomenon has been a fantastic experience,” said Sota Nanjo of the University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo in a statement. “Our findings not only open new avenues in auroral physics, but also underscore the importance of continuous collaboration between scientists and photographers. Such efforts are particularly crucial in the coming years as solar activity approaches its peak, when we may encounter extraordinary phenomena.”

Advertisement

The stunning show of May 10 has almost certainly inspired more people to chase sky lights, and presumably not all will be quitting on the dot of 12 (or even 1 am where daylight savings apply). In the process of photographing auroras, some may capture a brief accompanying purple arc.

Clearly, we need a better name for this than counter-STEVE, however. EVE is the obvious choice, but might be too confusing for a morning phenomenon, even one first detected so close to Christmas. Perhaps we could really get on some people’s nerves and call it ADAM.

The findings are published open access in the journal Earth, Planets and Space.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Soccer-Premier League talking points
  2. Russian billionaire Tinkov agrees to pay $500 million over U.S. tax charges
  3. How Did Ancient Romans Build Aqueducts?
  4. The Placebo Effect: Good Or Bad For Us?

Source Link: STEVE, The Purple Aurora-Like Phenomenon, Has A Mysterious Morning Twin

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Ancient Asteroid Ripped Apart In Collision Had Flowing Water
  • Flying Foxes Include The World’s Biggest Bat And The Largest Mammal Capable Of True Flight
  • NASA Responds To Claims That Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Is An Advanced Alien Spacecraft
  • Millions Of Tons Of Gold Are In Earth’s Oceans, Potentially Worth Over $2 Quadrillion
  • The Race Back To The Moon: US Vs China, Will What Happens Next Change The Future?
  • NOAA Issues G3 Geomagnetic Storm Warning As 500,000 Kilometer Hole Sends Solar Wind At Earth
  • Lasting 776 Days, This Is The Longest Case Of COVID-19 Ever Recorded
  • Living Cement: The Microbes In Your Walls Could Power The Future
  • What Can Your Earwax Reveal About Your Health?
  • Ever Seen A Giraffe Use An Inhaler? Now You Can, And It’s Incredibly Wholesome
  • Martian Mudstone Has Features That Might Be Biosignatures, New Brain Implant Can Decode Your Internal Monologue, And Much More This Week
  • Crocodiles Weren’t All Blood-Thirsty Killers, Some Evolved To Be Plant-Eating Vegetarians
  • Stratospheric Warming Event May Be Unfolding In The Southern Polar Vortex, Shaking Up Global Weather Systems
  • 15 Years Ago, Bees In Brooklyn Appeared Red After Snacking Where They Shouldn’t
  • Carnian Pluvial Event: It Rained For 2 Million Years — And It Changed Planet Earth Forever
  • There’s Volcanic Unrest At The Campi Flegrei Caldera – Here’s What We Know
  • The “Rumpelstiltskin Effect”: When Just Getting A Diagnosis Is Enough To Start The Healing
  • In 1962, A Boy Found A Radioactive Capsule And Brought It Inside His House — With Tragic Results
  • This Cute Creature Has One Of The Largest Genomes Of Any Mammal, With 114 Chromosomes
  • Little Air And Dramatic Evolutionary Changes Await Future Humans On Mars
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version