S.T.E.V.E. Observations As a Citizen Scientist aurora observer, I report my aurora sightings to a few websites that collect this data. I have also contributed to some articles and studies of the aurora. One of the phenomena that is currently being studied is
S.T.E.V.E. (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement). Here are some of my observations. Photos were all taken near Plumas, Manitoba, unless otherwise noted. |
2023 09 17
2022 09 04 2022 09 02 2022 08 29 2022 08 19 2022 08 07 2022 08 06 2022 04 28 |
2021 07 28
2021 03 14 2020 08 31 2020 07 13 2019 09 27 2019 09 02 2019 05 02 2019 04 09 |
2019 04 02
2018 09 13 2018 05 06 2017 08 21 2017 07 17 2016 07 28 2015 09 06 2015 08 15 possible |
Some of the challenges I find when photographing STEVE is to find it in the first place.
You have to be patient to wait for it after the breakup of the substorm.
Sometimes it is difficult to see with the naked eye.
Sometimes I have not known that I captured it until I looked at my photos on the computer.
Looking at a series of STEVE photos from the side, you can see pulses of diffuse aurora seeming to
come from the main aurora and bump up against the STEVE.
When it is a bright ribbon, it usually is appearing above us, and that is the when you can see it the best.
The challenge to capture it is thrilling. Sometimes you just need a longer exposure.
The thrill of the hunt gets you every time, and when you see that mauve ribbon above you...there's nothing like it!
You have to be patient to wait for it after the breakup of the substorm.
Sometimes it is difficult to see with the naked eye.
Sometimes I have not known that I captured it until I looked at my photos on the computer.
Looking at a series of STEVE photos from the side, you can see pulses of diffuse aurora seeming to
come from the main aurora and bump up against the STEVE.
When it is a bright ribbon, it usually is appearing above us, and that is the when you can see it the best.
The challenge to capture it is thrilling. Sometimes you just need a longer exposure.
The thrill of the hunt gets you every time, and when you see that mauve ribbon above you...there's nothing like it!
September 17, 2023
I watched the aurora arc from 10 p.m. until 1 a.m. It expanded slowly and broke up just before 11:30 p.m. It wasn't very high in the sky. I watched the recovery phase for a little while, but went home about 12:30 a.m. Just before I went inside I pointed the camera to the NW and thought I could see a faint STEVE arc. I raced out of town, and caught the STEVE from about 1:05 until 1:30. It was very faint and didn't reach very far from the WNW. As it faded, it appeared to wrap the main aurora, and I could see some faint green diffuse pulses bump against it.
September 4, 2022
STEVE appeared south of me and was difficult to see with the bright moon. It was observed overhead in Minnesota and Wisconsin, with beautiful tall pickets. If you look closely on the left side of the first photo, you can see the tall pickets that were seen overhead in the northern states.
September 2, 2022
STEVE observed from 12:07 to 1:28. This one was quite faint and north of us.
August 29, 2022
I began observation at 10:48 p.m., seeing very colourful pillars at 45 degrees up and expanding. At 11:00 it appeared that there was a STEVE wrapping the main aurora to my east. At 11:02 the STEVE extended to the west, appearing in puffs, which was expanding towards me and soon overhead. It was huge and bright, with lots of pickets. At the beginning of the pickets, they looked like a green string. When pickets emerged it appeared that the lower edge of the pink STEVE and the pickets were flowing downward and northward (they were curved in that direction.) At 12:00 it was fading and only visible to the east. I observed it to the east, faint but with pickets until 12:24. I have never seen it so huge and tall and visibly moving like this.
August 19, 2022
My lens kept fogging up and was difficult to keep clean. This was a beautiful wispy STEVE, and the photos showed the green diffuse pulses bumping against the arc.
August 7, 2022
Observation began at 11:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time, with low diffuse aurora arc. Many clouds made it difficult to see. Breakup started about 12:18 and it danced for about 15 minutes. Shortly after that approximately 12:40, there appeared to be an invisible SAR at the equator side of the main aurora in recovery phase. At 1:06 a STEVE appeared visible in the SAR. There was a hazy green band below the STEVE and I couldn't identify any pickets. Green pulses from the main aurora bumped up against the STEVE and interacted with the green band below it. By 1:16 the STEVE was extremely faint, and barely visible. By 1:23 the STEVE seemed to have become invisible to the naked eye, and appeared to have a SAR colour.
August 6, 2022
When I started observation, the substorm was in recovery phase, and STEVE was already visible. It was way off to the west-northwest and didn't extend very far. Pickets started appearing below the STEVE at 2:50, and continued extending towards me, almost above me. The pickets had fragments below them for awhile. By 3:45 the STEVE faded and appeared to be a SAR, invisible to the naked eye. It still had pickets until 4:04. At that time a new arc was forming to the north, indicating another substorm beginning.
April 28, 2022
STEVE appeared from 11:43 until 12:15. The aurora wasn't very exciting and after the breakup I waited awhile to see if STEVE would show up. Since the aurora wasn't a particularly strong, likely 45 degrees high, I left my location and drove a mile down the road. Stopping to see if anything would develop, I was checking my photos on the camera and glanced out the window. This beautiful slim arc was to the west of me and shocked me! I jumped out of the car, set my camera on the tripod and frantically captured a few photos.
July 28, 2021
The data told me that there was aurora activity, but it took so long for it to get dark I didn't really see anything. I took some milky way photos and turned around to see a bit of activity. I didn't take many photos as it was very minimal activity, but when processing I saw an arc that looks like STEVE. I set the photos aside as I really couldn't tell for sure. When I looked at them today, I realized that there are pickets below the pink arc in 3 photos (0801-0803), so now I am assuming it was a STEVE. I have seen this faint arc in many photos and wondered if it was a STEVE. It is difficult to determine when it shows up against the main aurora. I believe that STEVE is there way more often than we can see, in this faint form.
March 13, 2021
This was an epic night of aurora and 2 STEVE's were seen in 2 substorms. Observed from 9:27-10:15 pm. I caught the later one in one frame. This one wrapped quite tightly to the main aurora at the beginning, and the diffuse pulses were mostly purple.
August 31, 2020
The moon was so bright, but the camera still caught the STEVE. A little green picket fragment appeared in one frame.
July 13, 2020
Taken at Plumas, Manitoba Canada (Central Daylight Time) With a chance of aurora and a perfect night to photograph Comet Neowise, I started taking photos when it was just getting dark enough. On this date, it doesn't get very dark until after 2300. The noctilucent clouds were very pretty as the aurora started to appear in a diffuse arc. Before long it was blazing above the comet. At 12:48 it looked like a STEVE was starting to appear at the west edge of the aurora. It wasn't very bright, but it eventually emerged south of the main aurora, until merging back into it at about 1:30 a.m. My white balance made it very difficult to process the photos and determine what the correct colour was. The red was visible in the photos, but depending on WB, it looked purple in some. I think the midnight sun was hitting the top of the red, possibly a red arc, turning it blue. There may even have been multiple red arcs. There is also something happening on the equator side of the main aurora that looks like white puffs. I really am baffled at what is all happening in the photos (I have about 600). If one of the red arcs is RAGDA, then those whitish puffs might be the green diffuse aurora, just difficult to identify in front of the bright aurora.
September 27, 2019
I only have a few small files that were saved from this event. This STEVE was very faint.
September 2, 2019
I only have one large file and a few small files from this event. My hard drive crashed and I lost the other files. The large file that was saved, was taken as I caught STEVE crossing the milky way, giving the appearance of a crucifix.
May 1, 2019
A very dim STEVE was observed to the west only. There were no pickets visible, but there appeared to be a thin green band below the STEVE.
April 9, 2019
This STEVE was briefly observed shortly after 11:00 p.m.
April 2, 2019
I just got a new lens - the Sigma Art 20mm f1.4, but didn't have a full frame camera for it yet. When I saw there was aurora, I put it on my Canon Rebel. The STEVE was beautiful, but not captured very well with this lens/camera combo.
September 13, 2018
There were lots of clouds this evening, but they opened enough for me to see this beautiful wide STEVE. Photo quality isn't great.
May 6, 2018
I am not certain the meta data is correct. I observed the STEVE from 11:04 to 11:25 p.m. Central Time. The STEVE arc was thin and mauve. The diffuse aurora that pushed up from the main band had a lot of purple in it. There appeared to be perpendicular arcs coming from the main aurora that were similar colour to the STEVE.
August 21, 2017
This was one of the most beautiful STEVE's I have seen, lasting from about 10 p.m. until after 11 p.m. I took quite long exposures of these.
July 17, 2017
This STEVE was extremely faint, but I caught enough frames of it to believe it really was a STEVE. 11:55 p.m. - 12:18 a.m.
July 28, 2016
I still wasn't sure what this mauve arc was, but I took a selfie with it for posterity. 1:38 a.m. - 1:55 a.m.
September 6, 2015
This was my first encounter with STEVE, before it was called STEVE. I may have seen it in the sky before, but not this noticable. I watched this strange mauve band from about 11:45 until 1:30, turning my camera to it every once in awhile and catching it in a different stage. It's possible that there were 2 STEVES through that time, as I couldn't see it for awhile, but I did see a green blob at the west side of the main aurora. I was fascinated, and checked the web afterwards to attempt to determine what it was. I read that it could be proton arc. Later I discovered that some arcs are proton generated, but this one isn't. Quite often all there is, is a ghostly STEVE arc above the aurora when it is to the north, and at one point, that's what the camera captured.