2 min read

A Short History of STEVE

A citizen scientist working with NASA's Aurorasaurus project has unearthed an exciting piece of scientific history. In the writings of early 20th-century aurora explorer Carl Størmer, citizen scientist Dr. Michael Hunnekuhl noticed mentions of “feeble homogeneous arcs of great altitude” and recognized them as descriptions of the subauroral phenomenon STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement).

Photo of Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement
STEVE stands for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement. And it looks awesome! Credit: Catalin Tapardel

STEVE is a rare, mysterious, glowing purple arc that runs east to west and occurs closer to the equator than the Northern and Southern Lights. STEVE had been observed for years, but it remained obscure until Aurorasaurus collaborated with Canadian citizen scientists and other scientists to publish the first scientific paper describing it. The discovery made global headlines and inspired new investigations.

Hunnekuhl's role as a citizen scientist echoes history. Back in his day, Størmer put out calls in newspapers and over the radio for amateur aurora observations and data, which underpinned his work just as Aurorasaurus reports bolster today's scientific discourse. Hunnekuhl's discovery underscores the longstanding power of citizen science and the unique perspectives that citizen scientists bring to current and historical studies.

Aurorasaurus is a citizen science project that maps auroras in real time, providing scientists with data from the ground and aurora watchers with real-time alerts.

References and Resources

Read "When Størmer Met STEVE" on the Aurorasaurus Blog

Download the paper Early Ground‐Based Work by Auroral Pioneer Carl Størmer on the High‐Altitude Detached Subauroral Arcs Now Known as “STEVE”, by Dr. Michael Hunnekuhl

Social Media

https://twitter.com/TweetAurora

https://twitter.com/STEVEPhenomena

Follow us:

https://twitter.com/DoNASAScience

https://www.facebook.com/DoNASAScience

For a complete list of NASA citizen science projects, visit https://science.nasa.gov/citizenscience

Share

Details

Last Updated
May 22, 2023
Editor
NASA Science Editorial Team

Related Terms

Explore More

6 min read

NASA-Led Study Provides New Global Accounting of Earth’s Rivers

The novel approach to estimating river water storage and discharge also identifies regions marked by ‘fingerprints’ of intense water use. A study led by NASA researchers provides new estimates of how much water courses through Earth’s rivers, the rates at which it’s flowing into the ocean, and how much both of those figures have fluctuated […]

Article15 hours ago
6 min read

NASA’s CloudSat Ends Mission Peering Into the Heart of Clouds

Over the course of nearly two decades, its powerful radar provided never-before-seen details of clouds and helped advance global weather and climate predictions. CloudSat, a NASA mission that peered into hurricanes, tallied global snowfall rates, and achieved other weather and climate firsts, has ended its operations. Originally proposed as a 22-month mission, the spacecraft was […]

Article4 days ago
This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the barred spiral galaxy UGC 12158. The majestic galaxy has a pinwheel shape made up of bright blue stars wound around a yellow-white hub of central stars. The hub has a slash of stars across it, called a bar. The galaxy is tilted face-on to our view from Earth. A slightly s-shaped white line across the top is a Hubble image is of an asteroid streaking across Hubble's view. It looks dashed because the image is a combination of several exposures of the asteroid flying by like a race car.
5 min read

Hubble Goes Hunting for Small Main Belt Asteroids

Article1 week ago
Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.

Perseverance Rover

Parker Solar Probe

Juno