During the the moderate G2 geomagnetic storm on September 15, 2017, a mysterious phenomenon appeared in the sky accompanied by northern lights over the Alberta, Canada.
An strange auroral phenomenon called ‘Steve’ that amazingly looks like an angel or a bird with its milky way body.
But the weird sky phenomenon was also spotted and photographed in other locations. Here the best pictures:
A zoom on the wings of the angel. @ Lake Minnewanka by Chandresh KNSteve is an atmospheric optical phenomenon, which appears as a light ribbon in the sky, formally discovered in 2017 by aurora watchers from Alberta, Canada. @ Kootenay Crossing, BC by Ty BrooksThese Steve phenomena are caused by a 25 km wide ribbon of hot gasses at an altitude of 300 km, temperature of 3000 °C and flowing at a speed of 6 km/s (compared to 10 m/s outside the ribbon). @ Castle Junction by Benny GrossmanAs electrons hit the different gases, we can see them emit different colours of light, producing what are colloquially called the Southern and Northern lights. @ Peyto by Christy Turner via Alberta Aurora ChasersProtons can hit the gases as well, but while the electrons they bump loose can cause light to spill down, the wavelengths emitted by the proton collisions themselves aren’t visible. @ Minnewanka by Adam Goddwillie via Alberta Aurora ChasersWhile this beautiful cousin to the aurora might be new to scientists, it’s certainly not because it’s a rare phenomenon. @ Travers Reservoir by Elfie HallThe angel or bird in the sky: Steve (wings) and milk way (body). @ Near Dalemead by Richard M. Dunstan
“Could be ‘Steve’ and his friend picked fence, the wings of Milky Way and Milky Way an Angel?”
I strongly suspect that title is impossible to parse.
Steve (red); picked fence (green aurora); Milky way = angel; Steve (red) + picked fence (green northern lights = wings…