Aurora borealis in France, episode 2. The day after a first night under the glow of the aurora borealis, French people from the north of the country were able to observe again, Monday evening, in the sky, these immense colored draperies. Some, who had missed the day before, were able to make it this time.
“My most beautiful northern lights show tonight”, publishes on Twitter, Tiffany, in Ille-et-Vilaine. “I was right to go out despite the cold since I had the right to two small northern lights”, testifies for his part David, also on Twitter, from Saint-Malo, in the same department.
Those who could not see them outside were able to watch them live via the webcam facing the sea of Berck-sur-Mer, in Pas-de-Calais, where the northern lights had already were observed the day before. Or, from another point of view: that of the Collet d’Allevard, at an altitude of nearly 1,500 m, where a webcam filmed these fascinating lights above the clouds.
Caused by solar flares, the aurora borealis is rarer at lower latitudes, such as in France, where it can be observed approximately every ten years, provided the solar flare is strong enough and pointed in the right direction. The countries of the Far North record up to several hundred per year.
A solar flare on Friday
An aurora borealis appears when jets of hot, magnetic particles, generated by these solar flares, reach the Earth’s surroundings. The streams of ionized particles projected at colossal speeds then strike the Earth’s magnetic field, which serves as a shield protecting the planet. Solar flares that occurred on Friday and then Saturday foreshadowed these phenomena.
“When the Sun causes eruptions, some of its charged particles manage, despite this famous shield, to penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere, where they will collide with the gases present”, develops with the Parisian Éric Lagadec, astrophysicist at the Côte d’Azur Observatory (OCA). The result is a nocturnal spectacle, of green and pink, that can last for hours.