STEVE, a strange ribbon of purple and green haze discovered by citizen scientists in 2016, just got even weirder. While looking through archival data, a team of scientists discovered that the aurora-like phenomenon has a secret twin moving in the opposite direction. A photo of STEVE’s long-lost sibling hanging out above the Norwegian Arctic was found in the archives of the all-sky digital camera at the Ramfjordmoen Research Station in Norway, according to a new published in Earth, Planets and Space.
Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, also known as STEVE, was first spotted in photos on the Aurora Chasers Facebook group, appearing as unusual purple streaks in the night sky. The name STEVE was chosen in honor of the children’s movie Over the Hedge, in which a character randomly comes up with the name STEVE to describe an object he’s not sure about. STEVE’s full name was later put together to fit its acronym.
Although it can appear around the same time as the northern lights, its distinct colors didn’t match the shades of green, blue, and red normally seen in the auroras. The auroras also tend to last for hours, while STEVE graces the skies for a short period of time. Scientists were naturally intrigued, so they began investigating the strange aurora-like phenomenon.
Upon closer inspection, STEVE was categorized as a fast-moving stream of extremely hot gas called a sub-auroral ion drift. Auroras form as a result of hurling particles towards Earth, which are t.
