Northern lights seen from the Santis mountain
MeteoSwiss
Northern lights were spotted from Säntis, a mountain peak in northeastern Switzerland, on Monday night. A camera captured the colourful natural spectacle between the gaps in the clouds at 1.50am, according to the Swiss federal weather service.
The last time auroras were seen in Switzerland was on November 5, 2023, the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) announced on the online platform X, formerly Twitter, early on Monday morning.
Auroras are rare in the Alpine region, according to a statement from MeteoSwiss. They are normally seen in the polar region.
The colourful spectacle is caused by an interaction between charged particles from space and the Earth’s atmosphere. It is triggered by the so-called solar wind. This consists of charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, which are ejected from the sun.
Green northern lights are often caused by interaction with oxygen in higher atmospheric layers, while red or violet colours can result from interaction with nitrogen.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/mga
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Banking & Fintech
UBS releases ‘hundreds’ of staff in fresh wave of job cuts
Should Switzerland take measures to support its struggling industries?
Industrial policies are back in fashion, not only in the United States but also in the EU. Should Switzerland, where various industries are struggling, draw inspiration from such policies?
As a Swiss Abroad, how do you feel about the emergence of more conservative family policies in some US states?
In recent years several US states have adopted more conservative policies on family issues, abortion and education. As a Swiss citizen living there, how do you view this development?
Swiss rescue service Rega flew 20,000 missions in 2024
This content was published on
The services of the Swiss Air Rescue Service (Rega) were once again in great demand in 2024, flying almost 20,000 missions and rescuing 35 patients daily.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.