This beautiful streak of light is turning Canadian skies purple, and you can call it “Steve”

A bright purple streak of light crossing Canadian skies is actually an unknown aurora phenomenon — but people are just calling it “Steve.”

When Alberta Aurora Chasers members first began photographing the colorful streak, they thought it was something called a “proton aurora,” only later realizing that proton aurora can’t be seen by the naked eye.

Also unlike “traditional” Northern Lights, the streak doesn’t move, remaining stationary in the sky.

"Steve is rather static," Paul Zizka wrote on Instagram.  "On that occasion, after noticing where the pillar was from a different location, I had time to drive 15 minutes to Vermilion Lakes to line it up with Mount Rundle. It was still hovering in the same spot!"

The streak is visible all over the north, so it doesn’t appear to be a random happenstance.

"We have seen it from Hudson Bay all the way over to Alaska in our data, and so it's like someone reached in from space and drew a line with a purple magic marker across the Earth," Professor Eric Donovan wrote in the Calgary Eyeopener.

But why call a celestial phenomenon “Steve?”

Alberta Aurora Chasers founder Chris Ratzlaff came up with the name, saying he got the idea from the animated film Over the Hedge.

"It's a completely meaningless name, which is really useful for things that aren't understood," Ratzlaff said.

Well… Steve sure is pretty, ain’t he?