How citizens helped NASA discover ‘Steve’ and other astronomical wonders

When Liz MacDonald talks about auroras, her voice carries the kind of excitement usually reserved for people describing a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

In a way, that’s exactly what she studies. A heliophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, MacDonald, working remotely in Walla Walla, has spent her career chasing the mysteries behind the northern lights — from sounding rockets in Alaska to satellites orbiting high above Earth.

But the most surprising breakthroughs, she says, have come from a far more unexpected source: ordinary skywatchers.

More than a decade ago, while working at Los Alamos National Laboratory, MacDonald noticed something unusual during a major aurora event in 2011. “There were loads of posts on Twitter from people who’d seen it,” she recalls.

Using those posts, she built a map of where the aurora had been visible — faster than any other map of sightings.

That spark of insight led her to launch the Aurorasaurus website in 2012, a global citizen science project that crowdsources real-time aurora sightings for research use.

MacDonald will give a talk titled “Backcountry to the Cosmos: A Trekker’s Guide to the Northern Lights” at the Inter-Mountain Alpine Club Annual Meeting on Feb. 26 at The Uptown Theatre in Richland.

“People are very smart sensors,” she says. “And smartphones allow for broad coverage.”

Auroras can stretch across thousands of miles, especially during rare, powerful storms.

“No scientific network on Earth has enough instruments to watch all of it,” she shares. “But people do — night owls, photographers and families stepping outside before bed.”

Their reports often arrive from places satellites aren’t looking, at moments models don’t expect activity.

“That unpredictability,” MacDonald says, “is exactly what makes the data so valuable.”

“Crowdsourced aurora reports can be a little chaotic,” she says with a smile, “but that chaos is where the magic — and the science — really happens.”

Global network of skywatchers

Aurorasaurus has grown into a vibrant community of observers who help scientists track everything from sudden storms to rare colors. Some of the project’s most remarkable discoveries began with everyday people all looking up at the right moment.

One of the most famous examples is STEVE, (an acronym for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) a mysterious purple arc with green “picket fence” stripes that baffled scientists for years.

“It’s a mouthful,” MacDonald says, “but it describes the extreme, fast‑flowing upper atmosphere feature that satellites detect during STEVE events.”

It was photographers — many of them in Canada — who kept posting images of the strange feature. Their persistence helped researchers identify STEVE as a new aurora-related phenomenon.

Aurorasaurus connected those photographers with scientists, leading to a satellite pass that finally revealed the extreme flow signature behind the light.

“It was wild to have the first paper on STEVE go viral around the world,” MacDonald says. “And it all started because people kept asking, ‘What is this?’”

To learn more watch “Chasing Steve”, a 21-minute Canadian video available on YouTube.

Volunteer reports have also revealed auroras appearing farther south than models predicted – sometimes in Kansas, Missouri, even Arizona. They’ve captured rare pink, red, purple, and blue displays.

Even non-sightings matter. Reports of clouds or clear skies without auroras help improve machine-learning filters and public education. “Negative reports teach us too,” MacDonald says.

Science, community and reciprocity

For MacDonald, Aurorasaurus isn’t just a research tool — it’s a relationship. She emphasizes reciprocity, answering real questions from the public and helping people feel empowered as contributors to science.

“We love two-way engagement,” she says. “People become curious about the aurora, and we help them learn more.”

That spirit extends to classrooms as well. She recently visited a group of sixth graders in the small town of Prescott. Their curiosity, she says, was contagious. “The passion of aurora chasers and enthusiasts is continually motivating.”

Perfect time for skywatching

If there was ever a moment for Tri-Cities residents to join the chase, it’s now.

The current solar maximum — peaking in late 2024 — has been roughly twice as active as the previous cycle, producing storms not seen in more than 20 years. We are on the downswing and even as the peak passes, the years that follow often bring more complex and surprising events.

Aurorasaurus offers free, location-based alerts about an hour before activity is likely. Stronger alerts appear when people nearby are reporting auroras in real time.

“Tri-Cities observers could help the rest of us know when to look,” MacDonald says. “Multiple people are needed so this can be a very accurate real-time alert.”

With dark skies and a growing community of local enthusiasts—including Prisco Blanco, one of Washington’s top aurora chasers and director of the Columbia Basin College Planetarium and Observatory in Pasco, says, “The region is well-positioned to contribute.

“Light pollution from Tri-Cities tends to whiten out the photos taken on Badger and Candy Mountains,” Blanco said. “I usually go to Connell, Ritzville or the Hanford site or if it is stronger storm, to the Horse Heaven Hills in Prosser or Northeast of Pasco.”

The future: Smarter tools, better data and AI

MacDonald is also looking ahead. She’s excited about new satellite constellations, expanding networks of all-sky cameras, and mobile tools that make it easier for anyone to submit high-quality observations. Machine learning is already helping researchers detect auroral features faster than ever.

But she’s clear-eyed about the limits. “Computers don’t notice the unusual and unknown features as well as human eyes. Citizen scientists are still making critical contributions in many fields that they are passionate about,” she says.

Bridge between people and science

What keeps her motivated after years of chasing the lights? The answer comes easily.

“My biggest hope is that Aurorasaurus keeps growing into a place where anyone — families, students, night-owls — can help us discover something new about the sky.”

She hopes readers will come to her upcoming talk, see inspiring images, and maybe even feel the pull to step outside on the next clear night. After all, the Tri-Cities is a great place for aurora chasing — and its dark skies are worth protecting.

And for anyone dreaming of a career like hers, she offers one piece of advice: keep an open mind. “Learn the history of the field well,” she says, “so you can really recognize a new idea when it comes along.”

You can use Aurorasaurus for free here: https://www.aurorasaurus.org/

MacDonald’s slideshow presentation on Feb. 26 at the Uptown Theatre is $10 for adults and $5 for students.

She speaks at 6:45 PM.

More about MacDonald. MacDonald recently won recognition as one of the top 50 people who are doing remarkable work to promote science and exploration.

You can learn more about MacDonald’s work at NASA, and she is the author of an article on STEVE published by Scientific American.

A Smithsonian story featured Prisco Blanco from the CBC planetarium.

-Paul Krupin is an avid local outdoor enthusiast and a member of the Intermountain Alpine Club (IMAC). He can be reached at pjkrupin@gmail.com.

This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 9:56 AM.