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The aurora borealis in Paris
The only image of the October 24, 1870 aurora borealis over Paris that I’ve found. Based on a sketch by meteorologist and eyewitness Monsieur Chapelas-Coulvier-Gravier, it was published in Le Monde Illustré, on October 29, 1870. ( image source ) The colors rose and fell like something breathing, as though the whole soul of the earth were there. He felt as though he were witnessing something greater than himself, than anything. The red wave rippled among the stars, at once something unknown and the blood of his heart. - description of the aurora borealis of October 24, 1870, in Hearts at Dawn The Northern Lights in Paris? It seems impossible. Paris is so beautiful already, how could so much more beauty be added to it? And then of course, in a more practical way of thinking, isn’t Paris’s latitude too low for the aurora borealis to be visible? And so, when I first read a mention of the aurora borealis seen in the sky over the City of Light on October 24, 1870, I felt certain I’d mi