By Tim Binnall
Astronomers in Hawaii are scratching their heads over a peculiar green glow that was recently filmed in the night sky on two separate occasions. According to a local media report, resident Jake Asuncion inadvertently captured the mysterious illumination while filming the sunset at a spot known as Keahole Point on the Big Island. As with many odd phenomena captured on film, he only noticed something unusual in the footage later. "I got home, I was going to post it, and then towards the end of the video I saw the green come out," he recalled, "I said, 'what was that?'" Remarkably, a curious Asuncion returned to the location the following sunset, and the green glow appeared even more vividly than the previous night.
Beyond baffling Asuncion, the weird illumination also has local astronomers scratching their heads. While the green glow seems to resemble an aurora, Nick Bradley from Stargazers of Hawaiʻi expressed skepticism about that scenario, explaining that such a phenomenon rarely reaches the island. Additionally, there was no geomagnetic activity at the time that could account for such an event. Bradley also dismissed a slew of usual suspects, such as satellites, lasers, and meteor showers. One possibility put forward for the glow is a ‘strong thermal emissions velocity enhancement,' or STEVE, an atmospheric phenomenon that was only recently properly identified. To that end, Bradley expressed hope for "more eyes on it" to get additional data on the puzzling illumination.