The northern lights, or aurora borealis, appeared in the night sky across Britain on Sunday in a display that reached parts of southern England
The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are flickering displays of green and red light in the night sky
They are generated when bursts of solar wind – a stream of charged particles expelled from the outer layer of the sun – collide with Earth’s magnetic field.
While this field usually deflects most of the particles, it is weaker around the poles, where particles can penetrate the upper atmosphere and strike gas molecules
These molecules gain and then lose energy in the form of light particles, or photons, releasing tiny flashes of light that combine to fill the sky with swirling patterns of colour.
In the past couple of days, magnetic disturbances in the sun’s upper atmosphere have caused a huge expulsion of electrically charged particles.
Together with an especially high-speed solar wind, aurorae have reached locations such as Anglesey in north Wales and Dorset in the south of England.
The last chance to witness Northern Light is on March 1, in the far north of Scotland, perhaps near the coastal village of Hopeman
But the aurorae won’t be visible as far south as in recent days because the sun’s activity is easing.