STEVE: A Glowing River over France

Sometimes a river of hot gas flows over your head. In this case, the river created a Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE) that glowed bright red, white, and pink.

Details of how STEVEs work remain a topic of research, but recent evidence holds that their glow results from a fast-moving river of hot ions flowing over a hundred kilometers up in the Earth’s atmosphere: the ionosphere.

The more expansive dull red glow might be related to the flowing STEVE, but alternatively might be a Stable Auroral Red (SAR) arc, a more general heat-related glow.

The featured picture, taken earlier this month in Côte d’Opale, France, is a wide-angle digital composite made as the STEVE arc formed nearly overhead.

Although the apparition lasted only a few minutes, this was long enough for the quick-thinking astrophotographer to get in the picture — can you find him?