On Sunday evening, the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, were spotted over parts of Belgium, Het Laatste Nieuws reports. This was an exceedingly rare occurrence as those wishing to see the phenomenon must normally travel far north, to Lapland in northern Finland or the top of Norway.
The colourful spectacle was also visible from some parts of France, the Netherlands, and Belgium’s Campine region.
“This phenomenon occurred because the particles of a solar storm were blown towards the south,” meteorologist Wouter Van Bernebeek told HLN. “But no one expected that it would come so far south.”
🌌 Noorderlicht vanuit Zuid-Nederland: wát een verrassing! Gisteravond waren zelfs in Brabant (51,7º NB) de kleuren en 'pilaren' visueel zichtbaar. Deze foto kon ik om 22.37u maken bij Cuijk 👇 #poollicht@helgavanleur @NightLights_AM @StormHour @Weerplaza @ADnl @omroepbrabant pic.twitter.com/VXysfaVWsA
— Wouter van Bernebeek (@StormchaserNL) February 27, 2023
Aurora displays are caused by electrically charged particles from space entering Earth’s upper atmosphere at very high speed. 98% of these particles are deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field but a small percentage leak through the Earth’s magnetic field, causing glowing rings to form in the northern hemisphere.
Nu met timelapse #noorderlicht pic.twitter.com/mSob9YHTSV
— Dick Tolsma (@tolsumadvies) February 26, 2023
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Several stunned Belgians took to social media to report the rare event, sharing photos filmed with long exposure cameras.
According to the Royal Observatory of Belgium, the last time that the Aurora Borealis was spotted in Belgium was on 6-7 April 2000, when the centre was flooded with calls reporting the event above Gent, Limburg, Brussels, and Liège.
