Amateur photographer Jean-Pierre Dirickx captured a rare and spectacular moment on October 8, 2025, at Le Croisic in Loire-Atlantique, France: a green flash. This extraordinary optical phenomenon, which occurs at the very last moment of sunset on the horizon, was photographed from the parking lot of Saint-Goustan beach.
When Dirickx shared his photograph on Facebook, it sparked intense reactions from viewers. Many questioned whether the image was genuine, with some speculating it might be a UFO, a digitally manipulated photo, or an AI-generated image. However, the photographer confirmed the authenticity of his capture of this elusive natural phenomenon.
"It doesn't happen every night," explained Dirickx to L'Echo de la Presquîle. The intense emerald green luminosity appears during the sun's final rays as it disappears below the horizon. Armed with a powerful telephoto lens, Dirickx managed to capture this fleeting moment by shooting at precisely the right time. "I took a chance and realized I had caught the green flash," he said, noting that he had previously photographed this same phenomenon in Réunion.
While many people consider the green flash to be a myth, this optical phenomenon actually has a solid scientific explanation. Earth's atmosphere acts like a prism, separating the sun's rays into different colors. When sunlight passes through very dense air, the light bends and disperses in the atmosphere, according to an article published by Futura-Sciences.
The science behind this phenomenon involves the behavior of different wavelengths of light. Colors with short wavelengths, such as blue, green, and violet, reflect more easily than colors with long wavelengths like red, orange, and yellow. When the sun is high in the sky, light travels a shorter distance through the atmosphere, and colors don't separate well enough to be individually visible.
However, when the sun begins to pass below the horizon, light must travel a much greater distance through the atmosphere. Consequently, the colors separate more easily under these conditions. "It's precisely under these circumstances that our eyes are able to perceive the green light," explains Futura-Sciences. This rare optical event requires very specific atmospheric conditions and perfect timing to witness and photograph successfully.
