US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday

[UltraBudgie]

You all are in on the conspiracy!

I say the Northern Lights are a myth!  Every single time I have been alerted to them it's been on a cloudy night.  I see nothing!

Look, photographic proof from France:



Photo credit: Louis Leroux, 11/11/24

Who are you STEVE?

Well, you can imagine that I'm not going to be talking several lines about a first name today, but about an atmospheric phenomenon called ‘STEVE’, which stands for ‘Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement’. STEVE is a glow in the sky that appears to the south of the aurora borealis. STEVE's main feature is a mauve/pink, sometimes green, band of light formed by a stream of 3000°C plasma flowing from east to west through the magnetosphere. This highly luminous ribbon is sometimes accompanied by very aesthetic green drapes. This is a different phenomenon from that which gives rise to the aurora borealis.

In 2015, there were numerous reports of the appearance of a luminous phenomenon in the sky, taking the form of a long bright purple ribbon associated with green. STEVE was initially considered to be a new form of aurora, although it was observed outside the auroral zones. Scientists questioned this assumption in 2017. A new study has now confirmed this hypothesis, further rejecting the possibility that STEVE is a form of polar aurora.

As I was finishing up a 360° panorama of the aurora, I heard Max and 2 other people shouting, seeming to marvel at something. I then looked up over my head, at the southern edge (opposite the auroral oval), and saw the beginning of a STEVE! It lasted about 2, 3 maybe 4 minutes at the most. Barely enough time to do a panorama in very short exposures to get the full arc in the sky. The ‘ground’ part of the panorama was therefore much less stressful to do in succession, and I was able to put the human being and the night sky into perspective by pointing at STEVE from the viewpoint. The setting Moon also accompanied this magnificent spectacle, as did the SAR arc...

So are you going to look for STEVE now too ? ?

EXIF :
-@canonfrance EOS 6Da
-@samyangfrance 14mm XP f/2.4
-Panorama 10 tiles 2.5s f/2.4 ISO6400
-PTgui/PS

A rare phenomenon : full STEVE panorama


It looks like the flat earth skydome, don't you think?