IN PICTURES | Northern lights visible in Outaouais and Eastern Ontario

There were still northern lights in the Chelsea sky late in the evening. (Patrick Woodbury/Le Droit)

The photographers of Right Étienne Ranger and Patrick Woodbury managed to capture this rare phenomenon in the skies of the Outaouais, in Chelsea, and of Eastern Ontario, in Rockland.

A geomagnetic storm caused by a solar flare earlier this week made parts of Quebec, eastern Ontario and the northern United States ideal spots for viewing the aurora borealis, in the evening Thursday, according to Space Weather Canada.

In Quebec, however, several regions had to deal with heavy cloud cover, making it difficult to potentially observe such a phenomenon. But the Outaouais and Eastern Ontario, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, as well as part of Montérégie, could count on clear skies.

The phenomenon is rare, but let’s remember that a good part of Quebec was able to witness it last May, during another magnetic storm.

Rockland was a good place to view the Northern Lights on Thursday evening. (Etienne Ranger/Le Droit)

Although the Northern Lights are more common near the magnetic North Pole, they can travel as far as southern regions of Canada during periods of intense solar activity, explains the Canadian Space Agency. “Typically, auroras appear a few hours after sunset, when the sky is clear. They tend to intensify around midnight. »

And above all, you should ideally move away from urban centers to better observe them, because light pollution makes them less visible.

The Northern Lights seen from Chelsea, captured by a Chelsea resident. (Marie-Hélène Hubert/Special collaboration)