The Northern Lights dazzled in the night sky as stargazers across the UK have been left stunned by the phenomenon this evening.
Also known as aurora borealis, it was flagged by the Met Office as potentially being visible as far south as London tonight, as a 'severe' geomagnetic storm slams into Earth.
SURREY: A clear sky across the Home Counties allows the aurora borealis to shine bight over the River WeyNEWCASTLE UPON TYNE: Stunning green and red streaks seen behind the Blakehope NickWEST SUSSEX: The lights were spotted dancing across Britain's as far south as SomptingEAST SUSSEX: A glow of red lights up the sky in WadhurstNORTHAMPTONSHIRE: The Northern Lights dance above the skies in ShutlangerLEEDS: The brilliant colours of the aurora shine over homes in LeedsNORTH TYNSIDE: A...
Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere around the magnetic poles.In the northern hemisphere, most of this activity takes place within a band known as the aurora oval, covering latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees. A Met Office animation shows the auroral oval - the ring-like range of auroral activity that determines the range of the Northern Lights and where it will be most visibleThe displays light up when electrically charged particles from the sun enter Earth's atmosphere.
'There's a reaction called nuclear fusion that occurs continuously deep within the sun's core,' explains Dr Amoré Elsje, an applied geomagnetic researcher at SANSA Space Science, in a new piece for The Conversation.'Some of the energy is released as light , some as radiation , and some as charged particles.'
Two severe solar storms in modern times caused extensive power cuts in Quebec, Canada, in 1989 and Malmo, Sweden, in 2003.Aurora are generally becoming more frequent as we enter solar maximum – the period of peak solar activity during the sun's 11-year solar cycle, when the surface of the sun is more active than ever.
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