The Meteorological Office reports that the Northern Lights shone in the UK’s skies last night and may do so once more on Monday night.
The light phenomenon was photographed in North Uist in Scotland, North Wales, Cambridgeshire, and Shropshire, according to a series of images shared by the public on Twitter by the Met Office.
The national weather service reported that “Aurora sightings across the UK” were caused by a coronal hole high speed stream that came this evening together with a pretty quick coronal mass ejection.
In a separate tweet, it encouraged users to upload pictures of any other sightings using the hashtag #LoveUKWeather.
The Met Office also said there is a chance of seeing the northern lights again on Monday night.
The lights, also known as Aurora Borealis, were also spotted by passengers on flights, who got to view them from the sky.
An Essex photographer, Paul Botten, 50 managed to snap the vibrant colours on his iPhone at 30,000ft, on his delayed flight from Norway.
‘I was testing the capabilities of the IPhone 13 Max against DSLR cameras and was amazed to see the results, especially when unexpectedly seeing them on a blizzard-related delay out from Tromso,’ said Botten.
‘We were supposed to take off at 4pm and the delay meant it was darkness when we got through the clouds and the aurora was already very active even at 6:30pm, with sunset visible way off to the west that you can see in the pictures,’
‘The captain turned off the lights and people ended up taking pictures for the next 15 minutes on their phones,’
‘The delay meant an overnight stay in Oslo, as we missed our connecting flight to Heathrow, but most of the plane were happy in a strange way as the free light show was the pay off,’
Royal Museums Greenwich explains on its website that the lights are caused by solar storms on the surface of the sun giving out clouds of electrically charged particles which can travel millions of miles and collide with the Earth.
Most particles are deflected away but some are captured in the Earth’s magnetic field and accelerate down towards the north and south poles, colliding with atoms and molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere, according to the observatory.
Did you spot the Northern Lights last night?
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The lights are the product of this collision between atoms and molecules from the Earth’s atmosphere and particles from the sun.
In November last year, strong light displays were witnessed across Scotland.
A Met Office spokesperson said the rare sightings of the aurora borealis further south in the UK on Sunday night were due to the ‘strength’ of a geomagnetic storm and the ‘strip of cloudless skies’ in southern regions.
Where and how to see tonight’s Northern Lights?
The best conditions to view the lights are when the sky is dark and clear of any clouds and mostly in Northern areas of the UK. However, tonight’s lights could be visible much further south than usual this week.
The Northern Lights are generally visible at high latitudes close to the Arctic Circle, which is why they are more commonly seen in Scotland and other parts of northern England.
While spotting the Aurora from London is extremely rare, a strong geomagnetic storm could make it possible.
It is recommended to seek out a location with minimal light pollution and a clear view of the northern horizon for the best chance of seeing them.
‘Cloud cover ultimately blocks the view of the light. Ideally, the lights will be best viewed away from any light pollution, in remote areas, facing the northern horizon – north facing coasts produce some of the best viewing locations,’ said the Met Office added.