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June 13th, 2017: Steve
This is Steve, ain’t he pretty. <-- rhetorical, no question mark.
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For the past three years, members of a Facebook group called the Alberta Aurora Chasers, consisting of photographers who exchange tips and images of the famed northern lights, have been capturing images of a gorgeous arc of light across the sky. The arc can be seen streaking across the northern sky typically in mid-latitude location like Calgary or Edmonton. It has a distinctive purplish or greenish color, and sometimes looks braided like a helix. The group initially mistook the glowing ribbon of purple and green light as an airplane contrail. It was only when experimenting with their camera settings, like slow shutter speeds, and photo editing software to improve the color saturation, did they realize that the arc of light was self illuminated, unlike condensation trails from airplanes that are lit from light sources on the ground. |
At first they thought it was a proton aurora, a rare kind of aurora caused by energized protons, as opposed to electrons.
But when they showed their pictures to astronomy professor Eric Donovan, he said nope, not a proton arc, but didn’t know what
the hell it was.
| Chris Ratzlaff, a photographer and weather enthusiast and the Facebook group’s admin, posted a message on the Facebook group suggesting they call it “Steve”. The name comes from a scene in the animation movie “Over the Hedge” where all the animals stare at a frighteningly huge hedge not knowing what it was and begins to feel concerned until one of the animals, a squirrel, says "Let’s call it Steve," and everyone feels better. |
| Of course not knowing got Prof Donovan fired up so he went to the European Space Agency because they have Swarm satellites that study the Earth's magnetic field. Coordinating ground sightings and matching data from Swarm, they were able to measure Steve. |
| We now know that a Steve is a fast moving ribbon of hot gases, about 25 to 30 kilometer wide, aligns east-west, and extends for hundreds, possibly thousands, of miles. The temperature inside a Steve was measured at 3000°C and the ribbon of gas was flowing westwards at about 6 km/s compared to a speed of about 10 m/s either side of the ribbon. A Steve can last for as long as an hour or more, and it appears to be seasonal, disappearing from October to February. |
link
Leus Tuesday Jun 13 10:31 AM
3000º? That's almost enough to melt Tungsten! I'm not easy with the article being so casual about this. Conspiracy, I say!
lumberjim Tuesday Jun 13 10:47 AM
yeah,
seems like a plane would have flown through it and been incinerated instantly at some point. 3000deg CELCIUS .. that's pretty hot, right? 5,432 degrees F....
and 6km/sec is pretty fast.... 13,421 mph
this is a weapon
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday Jun 13 03:19 PM
They don't say how high above the earth Steve is, but I suspect it happens in the Ionosphere like the Borealis which according to Wiki is, "from about 60 km (37 mi) to 1,000 km (620 mi) altitude".
glatt Tuesday Jun 13 03:31 PM
That's what I was thinking too. Still, that is pretty damn hot for what is virtually outer space.
xoxoxoBruce Wednesday Jun 14 12:39 AM
June 14th, 2017: Yuge Organ
Who has the biggest organ in the world? No not me (blush), not John Holmes, not even Roberto Esquivel Cabrera.
It’s the Atlantic City Municipal Auditorium. Not just the biggest organ but the biggest musical instrument in the world.
It has 7 keyboards, and 33,112 pipes from 6mm(0.236 in) to 19.4m(763.8 in or 63.65 ft).
The auditorium is yuge, 13,000 sq m(139,931 sq ft) so higher pipe air pressure is needed to be loud enough.
It's one of only two organs in the world with an open 64' stop, whatever that means.
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Griff Wednesday Jun 14 07:13 AM
That's not Steve man.
Gravdigr Wednesday Jun 14 09:42 AM
That's Steve's organ.
xoxoxoBruce Wednesday Jun 14 09:45 AM
Ah, that's what I did and had to do it over. I thought I forgot to save again. 
Elspode Sunday Jun 18 08:38 PM
The speed and temperature of the gases is high, but, like the solar corona, the density is probably low...so no melting airplanes.
xoxoxoBruce Sunday Jun 18 11:10 PM
I don't think there are many planes 37+ miles up.
lumberjim Monday Jun 19 06:24 PM
your mom is 37+ miles up
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday Jun 20 01:10 AM
Maybe, but I'd be inclined to think in her case they likely pushed the down button. 
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