Rainbow "Steve" appeared in the sky South of the usual

Saturday, may 5, the flow of the solar wind reached the Earth, causing geomagnetic storms G1 and G2. High in the atmosphere of hot plasma jets began to flow through the magnetic field of our planet, and suddenly there was "Steve". Alan Dyer photographed the shining purple of the arc above the city, Gleichen in the canadian province of Alberta.

""Steve" seemed a brand new Sunday night, staged a magnificent light show in the South of Alberta. First arc was weak, then became brighter, stretching across the sky," says Dyer.

The phenomenon was discovered by observers of the sky in Alberta just a few years ago, although, of course, was active long before that. A slim band associated with auroras, but has a certain shape, color and habitat. At the moment scientists believe "Steve" a manifestation of the hot plasma currents in the upper atmosphere.

In a recent article Elizabeth MacDonald from space flight Center NASA Goddard "Steve" associated with the phenomenon called "the sub-auroral ion drifts" (SAID). Satellites have recorded thousands SAID: most often they appear in the spring and autumn and seem to prefer the latitude of about +60°. But this weekend, "Steve" appeared South of the usual. Greg ash saw the ribbon above the city Or in the U.S. state of Minnesota at latitude +47,9°.

"As you can imagine, I was absolutely shocked. It was my first meeting with "Steve" and I could see it with the naked eye, including ripple green with purple," says ash.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»