'Chasing STEVE' brings a citizen-science mystery to the screen

March 4, 2020

Rod Boyce

What looks like aurora and acts like aurora, but isn’t? The answer is STEVE.

STEVE is short for the Strong Thermal Emissions Velocity Enhancement, a celestial phenomenon auroral researchers, citizen-scientists and photography enthusiasts first introduced to the world in 2016.

"Chasing STEVE" is a short documentary about a group of passionate night-sky photographers who stumbled on a celestial phenomenon not formerly studied by scientists. Aurorasaurus and citizen scientists published the first work identifying the phenomenon, which has touched many lives via citizen science and captured the global scientific community’s attention.

The film will be shown on Wednesday, March 4, at 4 p.m. in the Murie Building auditorium. It is 20 minutes long and will be followed by a question and answer session with Elizabeth MacDonald, space physicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and founder of Aurorasaurus.

Download a "Chasing STEVE" flyer.