Astronomy: what was this strange light that crossed the French sky?

The sky has seen all the colors lately. While on the other side of the Atlantic, several unidentified objects were shot down in the sky, arousing the curiosity of the whole world, in France, it was an event of a completely different nature that occurred in the stars.

On the night of Sunday February 12 to Monday February 13, 2023, shortly after 4 a.m., an impressive luminous apparition illuminated France. If this phenomenon surprised many people, there is actually nothing abnormal about it since it is a shooting star.

“A meteoroid of one meter […] has been detected and should strike, without risk, the Earth’s atmosphere above the north of France between 3:50 am and 4:03 am”, warned the European Space Agency (ESA) on Twitter, on Sunday evening.

Named “Sar2667”, this meteor could be observed in Paris, Rouen or even across the Channel. It decomposed on entering the Earth’s atmosphere, causing this impressive spectacle.

“This is only the seventh time that an asteroid impact has been predicted before it occurs – a sign of rapid progress in global asteroid detection capabilities!”, Explains the Agency, as noted by our colleagues from BFMTV.

If many early risers or night owls have had the chance to observe this phenomenon with the naked eye, cameras have also been able to capture the event. Here are images of this surprising shooting star entering the atmosphere above Rouen captured in Paris.