What the Hell is This Beautiful Thing?
April 24, 2017 12:18 PM   Subscribe

Thanks to social media and the power of citizen scientists chasing the northern lights, a new feature was discovered recently. Nobody knew what this strange ribbon of purple light was, so … it was called Steve. Also labeled a ProtonArc ( video) posted by theora55 (19 comments total) 19 users marked this as a favorite
 
Nobody knew what this strange ribbon of purple light was, so … it was called Steve.

Surely "Prince" would have been more appropriate?
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:26 PM on April 24, 2017 [24 favorites]


Aurora Borealisy McAurora Borealis Face
posted by bondcliff at 12:31 PM on April 24, 2017 [9 favorites]


Proty McProtface.

I love jokes where the filler male name is "Steve", so I've been giggling at my desk for the last 5 minutes.
posted by Autumnheart at 12:42 PM on April 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


3000 degrees warmer than the surrounding atmosphere?! I had assumed it was really cold up there, but (ya learn something new every day) it turns out 300km above Earth is within the range of the thermosphere, where it can get up to 2000 degrees Celsius. Still, that's one hot purple stripe (again: Prince!).
posted by kozad at 12:46 PM on April 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


The Minecraft guy didn't have a name until someone asked Notch who'd never really thought of naming him. Steve will do I guess.

There's an old joke that words like kangaroo, koala, wombat etc. are all different Aboriginal words for 'your finger', as the Europeans kept pointing at things and saying what the hell is that?

About Steve, does anyone know if he's got a counterpart at the south pole? It's not mentioned in the article. Maybe Stephanie?
posted by adept256 at 12:57 PM on April 24, 2017


About Steve, does anyone know if he's got a counterpart at the south pole? It's not mentioned in the article. Maybe Stephanie?

It's gotta be Meredith.
posted by Etrigan at 12:58 PM on April 24, 2017 [6 favorites]


I recently had occasion to look up the Dakota name for Minneapolis' Lake Calhoun (which was restored to some degree after it was determined that Calhoun isn't the greatest personage to memorialize). I was delighted to learn that the Dakota name for nearby Lake Harriet translates to, "The other lake".
posted by Autumnheart at 1:08 PM on April 24, 2017 [7 favorites]


About Steve, does anyone know if he's got a counterpart at the south pole? It's not mentioned in the article. Maybe Stephanie?

Adam.
posted by Autumnheart at 1:08 PM on April 24, 2017 [7 favorites]


Steve Holt!
posted by rock swoon has no past at 1:15 PM on April 24, 2017 [7 favorites]


Wikipedia is helpful regarding the high temperatures:

Thermospheric temperatures increase with altitude due to absorption of highly energetic solar radiation. Temperatures are highly dependent on solar activity, and can rise to 2,000 °C (3,630 °F). [...] The highly diluted gas in this layer can reach 2,500 °C (4,530 °F) during the day. Even though the temperature is so high, one would not feel warm in the thermosphere, because it is so near vacuum that there is not enough contact with the few atoms of gas to transfer much heat. A normal thermometer might be significantly below 0 °C (32 °F), at least at night, because the energy lost by thermal radiation would exceed the energy acquired from the atmospheric gas by direct contact

So contact with one atom of thermospheric gas will impart a much-higher-than-usual amount of energy when it contacts your skin, but you aren't bothered by many such atoms...

I guess.
posted by brambleboy at 1:42 PM on April 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


About Steve, does anyone know if he's got a counterpart at the south pole?

I came into this thread specifically to complain about the OP ignoring the aurora australis, like everyone always does, but yes I've seen displays like that down south. It's quite startling. Like someone suddenly shining an incredibly bright searchlight into the sky.
posted by Jimbob at 2:09 PM on April 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


Nobody knew what this strange ribbon of purple light was, so … it was called Steve.

It prefers Stephen but nobody ever listens to what Steve wants.
posted by srboisvert at 3:17 PM on April 24, 2017


Is that definitely something that was always there? Many Alien Attack novels start with new astronomical events. Now I'm worried.
posted by overhauser at 3:34 PM on April 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


Eh! Steve!
posted by RonButNotStupid at 3:39 PM on April 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


I've seen a lot of strange things in the skies over Alberta at 2am in January at -40°C, but I ain't never seen no Steve.
posted by blue_beetle at 4:22 PM on April 24, 2017


I came into this thread specifically to complain about the OP ignoring the aurora australis
No reason it wouldn't occur in the south,. The Alberta Aurora Chasers have documented this in the Northern Hemisphere; documentation in the Southern Hemisphere would likely be welcome. Also, see the tags.
posted by theora55 at 5:34 PM on April 24, 2017


Purple-green light? Clearly an octarine emission.
posted by The otter lady at 6:50 AM on April 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


NYT today.
posted by theora55 at 8:30 AM on April 25, 2017


I've seen purple aurora a couple of times in my life, but never knew they were qualitatively different. I just assumed it had to do with the intensity of solar emissions.
posted by Kattullus at 8:31 AM on April 25, 2017


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