New light phenomenon that experts have named... Steve!
CUTTING a purple swathe through the night sky, it’s a striking new form of light.
But while the poetically minded might be moved by the sight of it reaching into the heavens, the group of aurora enthusiasts who first saw it has given it the rather down-to-earth name of Steve.
Astronomer Eric Donovan from the University of Calgary spotted it in photos from Canada in a Facebook group.
He did not recognise it as a catalogued phenomenon, and while the group called it a proton arc – a rare aurora – he knew these were not visible.
Now the European Space Agency has conducted measurements to learn more. The 15-mile-wide ribbon of gas – with a temperature of 5,432F – was flowing at 13,000mph 190 miles above the Earth.
Relatively little else is known about the phenomenon but it appears it is not an aurora as it does not involve the interaction of solar particles with the Earth’s magnetic field.
The group is said to have called it Steve in homage to the 2006 children’s film Over The Hedge, in which the name is given to a creature the characters have not seen before.
Roger Haagmans, of the ESA, said: ‘It turns out Steve is remarkably common, but we hadn’t noticed it before.
‘It is amazing how a beautiful natural phenomenon seen by observant citizens can trigger scientists’ curiosity.’