His photo is doing the rounds on social media.

And for good reason.

The images of the phenomenon that it shows are extremely rare, because they are difficult to capture.

Tuesday evening, while a storm cell passed in the vicinity of Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), Tristan Bergen, who presents himself as a "storm hunter", immortalized a "blue jet".

⚡️A particularly rare phenomenon captured last night off the #CôtedAzurFrance.

It is probably a #jetbleu, a transient luminous phenomenon occurring at very high altitude above #storms.

@MeteoFrance_SE @Meteovilles @MeteoExpress pic.twitter.com/MeOi5lMwzV

— Tristan Bergen (@BergenTristan) November 2, 2022

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Unlike lightning, which strikes the ground, this form of lightning rises above clouds, cumulonimbus clouds in this case, towards the stratosphere, the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere.

At a speed of 100 km per second and reaching, as a rule, an altitude of 40-50 kilometers above the Earth.

And even up to 70 km according to some observations.

From the family of elves and leprechauns

Tristan Bergen's "blue jet" was "captured at 10:18 p.m. from Cabris", a perched village in the hinterland of Cannes, and was to be "about 80 km off Cannes", says the photographer.

These flashes are part of the transient luminous phenomena that accompany thunderstorms and which also include elves and leprechauns, formed at even higher altitudes and of red color.



This Thursday afternoon, the Alpes-Maritimes department, in yellow vigilance "rain, flood and storms", is again the target of a storm cell.

And photographers must be on the alert to try to bring back more blue jets.

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