The northern lights lit up the sky with bright pink hues on Thursday night. Photos of the dazzling natural phenomenon, also known as the aurora borealis, have been captured all over England.
The lights could be seen as far south as London, Kent and East Anglia.
Further north in Lancaster, Prof Jim Wild (49) viewed the northern lights from his back garden. The academic, who researches the aurora and space weather at Lancaster University, said: “My research focuses on the physics of the connections between the sun and the Earth.
“I’ve been to the Arctic Circle several times over the years to take measurements of the aurora, but it’s really special to see the northern lights from your back garden with your whole family.”
The Met Office said relatively clear skies were forecast for much of the UK, giving a “decent chance of visibility”.
A spokesman for the forecaster said there had been “more space weather events” in recent months, including the northern lights, as the sun approaches the peak of its solar cycle.
The auroras, which are most often seen over high polar latitudes but can spread southward, are mainly influenced by geomagnetic storms that arise from activity on the sun.
The sun has a cycle of about 11 years. Peak sunspot activity on the surface of the sun is referred to as solar maximum.
Sunspots provide the potential for Earth-directed releases of large bursts of energy called coronal mass ejections, which can lead to aurora visibility.
Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles. As they collide, light at different wavelengths is emitted, creating colorful displays in the sky.
