Will we be able to see the Northern Lights again in the coming days?

On May 10, 2024, many French people were able to witness an extraordinary spectacle: the Northern Lights. Usually a rare phenomenon, but for two years we have been seeing it in France. It is even possible that we will see them again this year.

“We cannot predict exactly when an aurora borealis will arrive”explains Vincent Boudon, president of the company Astronomy of Burgundy (SAB).

But we can still have an estimate: “iIt is very likely that we will be able to see them in our region during this summer.

Jason Gimaret, passionate about weather and photography, “aurora hunter” in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, is more optimistic: “oWe might even see some in the coming days or weeks, the sunspot of May 11 is still strong! If a strong solar flare happens when it is in front of the earth, anything is possible.”

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He nevertheless warns that we are not likely to see the Northern Lights like those of May 11 again. :”a phenomenon like that only happens once every 20 years.”

In my opinion, in the coming weeks there is a 40% chance that we will be able to see it with our eyes, and 80% with a camera.

Jason Gimaret

northern lights photographer

The photographer, as passionate about statistics as he is about the weather, estimates that there is a 50% chance of seeing more during the year 2024, “but they will not necessarily be visible to the naked eye.”

There are several factors to take into account. A solar flare must already occur facing the Earth.“We can only know that a few hours before,” specifies the president of the SAB. And the solar flare must also be powerful.

In order to see this luminous phenomenon, the sky must not be cloudy, something complicated at the moment over a large part of French territory, and the moon must not be full.

► ALSO READ: Northern Lights: “We have the feeling of capturing something unique”

According to Vincent Boudon, mobile applications make it possible to more or less predict the appearance of these light phenomena. “They are connected to satellites that monitor the sun”, adds the president of the SAB. It is this type of application that informs photographer Jason Gimaret:“jIt also monitors the sun on my side, and it has strong activity until 2025.”

So prepare your camera, you could soon be dazzled by new Northern Lights, in Burgundy and elsewhere.