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“Be Like STEVE”
Shawmut, Montana, USA
23 March 2023
This is STEVE. While the Aurora was putting on a sick show to the north and overhead last Thursday night, STEVE was doing his own thing to the south. He was dancing like no one was watching, and if they were, he just didn’t care. I liked that about STEVE, he made his own kind of music. I think we should all try to be a little like STEVE!
Believe it or not, STEVE IS NOT THE AURORA BOREALIS!!!!

I thought he was, but after investigating he is not. Warning, this is a rabbit hole, and if you want to just call STEVE an aurora, I won’t hold it against ya. He might though.
STEVE stands for Strong Thermal Emissions Velocity Enhancement. He is still poorly understood, but initial research has proven that he is fundamentally different then Auroras.
First, STEVE likes to hang out closer to the equator than his cold loving cuz, and he is not nearly as much of a party animal. The Aurora has been seen for millennia dancing in the north and south skies, but only started bringing STEVE along in 2016 (first investigation). To date, STEVE has never been seen partying alone.
Second, the Aurora shows up to the party with her green wavy ribbons when charged particles from the sun excite nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere causing them to glow. STEVE on the other hand is too hot to handle, literally. His reddish ribbon body is made by an unexplained flow of superhot gases slicing through the atmosphere about 200 miles above the Earth. He rocks a temperature ~5,500F hotter than the surrounding air temperature. The super hot gases reacts with ions in the atmosphere as they are expelled, creating the green picket fence formations along STEVEs side. These green streaks are very similar to the phenomenon that creates Aurora, but since they are not caused by charged particles from the sun, they are different.
As I said, little is known about STEVE, but research is being done. NASA wants you to report all STEVE sightings. See link in comments.
The timelapse video that goes along with this shot will also be in the comments.

EDIT: STEVE has been captured in photographs for years, he is not new. Previously, he was assumed to be part of the Aurora or simply something unknown. in 2016 is when his nature was uncovered and he was named. Sorry for the confusion.

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The Alaska Life
· posted 29 mar 2023

Photographer: Ralph Kristopher Photography, The Art of The Moment

Beam me up S.T.E.V.E!
Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement
Is this the best photo of the S.T.E.V.E phenomenon ever?
“I was on assignment for Alyeska Resort and Hotel hunting auroras.
The whole sky was animated with dancing cosmic magic.
I had my camera trained on the resorts flagship gourmet Seven Glaciers Resturant
when out of the corner of my eye I saw this wild opening and a vibrant shaft of light
just appeared and danced vibrantly.
My camera being on a tripod I swung it around quickly
and pushed the shutter.
Luckily my settings and focus for my other composition worked perfectly
and my point and shoot guess for composition was not bad either.
STEVE only visited for about a minute but was long enough to make a lasting impression for all of us.”
Credit to Ralph Kristopher Photography, The Art of The Moment for capturing this amazing moment!