The phenomenon is extremely rare in France. The aurora borealis enchanted the French sky for the first time on the night of Sunday February 26 to Monday February 27, then again on the night of Monday to Tuesday. Generally, this spectacle which illuminates the night with immense colored draperies is observed beyond the polar, Arctic and Antarctic circles, particularly in the Far North.
In France, several photographers took part in the event on Sunday and Monday evening. Among them, Mathieu Rivrin, a specialist in hunting extreme weather phenomena, and Lou Benoist, photographer for Agence France-Presse (AFP), immortalized Mont-Saint-Michel during this exceptional night.
???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????? – ???????????????????????? – February 27 21:59 am, barely believable, an aurora borealis fugace has traveled hi… https://t.co/sl2ye25othoth
A spectacle caused by solar flares
“I had been monitoring for a few days the arrival of a solar flare which was to impact the Earth”testified to AFP Sylvain Wallart, amateur photographer who captured this spectacle in the sky of northern France. “I went out around 10:45 p.m., took a picture, and saw the aurora borealis. »
In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Louis Leroux, astrophotographer, was also able to enjoy a painting of colored rays around 10 p.m. Monday evening. “I never thought I would be able to experience this spectacle invisible to our eyes in our region”for his part, rejoiced Jas O’bin from Normandy, in the hamlet of Petites-Dalles (Seine-Maritime).
Northern lights in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, latitude 50°N, last night around 10 p.m. ???? #auroreboreale https://t.co/L4kWvlxeY0
“These charged particles will excite the particles of the atmosphere, in particular oxygen and nitrogen, which will give green and pink respectively” of an aurora borealis, explains to AFP Éric Lagadec, astronomer at the Observatory of the Côte d’Azur.
Between a few minutes and several hours
The result is a nighttime spectacle that can last for hours. It attracts a large number of tourists to northern latitudes, from the north of the United States and Canada to the Scandinavian countries via Iceland. Light from the Sun takes only eight minutes to reach Earth, but the flux of ionized particles associated with an eruption takes two days to travel the 150 million kilometers.
For Maxime Oudoux, who was able to capture the red streaks that came to split the night of Poitou on Monday evening, the show will have lasted “barely a few minutes, before disappearing”. A phenomenon that does not occur “on this scale that every 20 years or so”explains the photographer.
Monday evening, the webcams of Skaping, a French company associated with the promotion of tourism, captured the orange gradient of the aurora borealis which illuminated the sky of Berck-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais).
#Auroresboréales in France? Yes, tonight at @BercksurMer thanks to the #webcam @skaping. ????????… https://t.co/O2SqNaflQr
[En direct – Aurores en cours en France]
Around 10 p.m., the aurora borealis appeared again in the French sky… https://t.co/KBWuZJjrXf
Monday to Tuesday night “was a special moment” for the photographer Benjamin Porée, who observed the phenomenon which tinted the Breton sky purple. Still in Brittany, Nicolas Leconte offers us an animated visual this time of dancing lights captured in the night from Monday to Tuesday. Corentin Jeauneau, a photographer specializing in meteorological phenomena, was stationed in Bléré (Indre-et-Loire) to take pictures of this ” Magnificent ” spectacle nocturne.
This night was a special moment. #Auroresboreales were visible like here from the Fort du Guesclin pr… https://t.co/s8f7tvAX7O