Alberta group discovered a mysterious light crossing the night sky. They call it Steve.

A reflection off the dome?




An Alberta group discovered a mysterious light crossing the night sky. They call it Steve

Geordie Summers-Lubar
April 25, 2017


A Facebook group of northern lights enthusiasts in Alberta kept noticing a light stretching through the night sky in a line. With good cameras and some imaging know-how, they discovered the light could be enhanced to expose dreamlike purples and greens. Unsure of what to call the phenomena, they decided to name it Steve.

“The meaningless of the name is actually quite valuable from a scientific perspective,” Chris Ratzlaff, an administrator for the Alberta Aurora Chasers group said.

In the past, a common name for the phenomena was a proton arc. But this changed in January of 2016, after members of the group went to a presentation by aurora experts Eric Donovan of the University of Calgary, and Elizabeth MacDonald of NASA.

After the presentation, the Aurora chasers went for drinks with the experts and showed them pictures of the so-called proton arcs. Ratzlaff says that Donovan looked at them and said, “that’s not a proton arc, it wouldn’t even be possible to see a proton arc.”

Naturally, they asked him, “Well, what is it?”

His reply: “I have no idea.”

[link to news.nationalpost.com]