• 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

  • DNA Evidence Uncovers Surprising Origins Of Native Americans
  • Single Gene Swap “Transfers A Behavior” Between Two Species For The First Time
  • Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Has A Rare “Anti-Tail”, New Observations Confirm
  • Asteroid Apophis: Animation Shows Asteroid’s Nail-Biting Close Approach To Earth In 2029
  • Titan Breaks A Key Chemistry Rule: What That Means For Alien Life
  • Scientists Studied “Chicago Rat Hole” – They Have Bad News, The South Atlantic’s Magnetic Field Weak Spot Is Growing, And Much More This Week
  • Could This Be The Real Reason Humans Survived And Neanderthals Died Out?
  • Newly Discovered Snail Species Named After Studio Ghibli Co-Founder Is A Hairy Beauty
  • 2025 SC79 Is The Second-Fastest Asteroid Ever Found – And Only The Second Within Venus’ Orbit
  • When Red Devil Spiders Arrived On A New Island, Their Genome Dramatically Shrank In Half
  • Is This The World’s Oldest Story? Ancient Human Tale About The Seven Sisters May Be From 100,000 BCE
  • This Pill Is Actually A Tiny Printer That Repairs Internal Injuries Using Biocompatible Ink
  • “This Is Amazing”: Scientists Have Found Evidence Of A Long-Lost World Deep Within The Earth
  • From The Shiniest World To Lava And Eternal Darkness, These Are The Weirdest Known Planets
  • Do Sharks Have Bones?
  • The Zombie Awakens: A Volcano Is Showing “First Signs” Of Unrest After 700,000 Years Of Quiet
  • Two Of The World’s Biggest Earthquakes Seem To Be Synched Together
  • California Has A New State Snake, And It’s A 1.6-Meter-Long Giant
  • Experimental Nanoparticle “Super-Vaccines” Stop Breast, Pancreatic, And Skin Cancers In Their Tracks
  • New Nightmare Fuel Unlocked: Watch The First Known Capture Of A Shrew By A False Widow Spider
  • 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