Spectacular views of Northern Lights over Midlands
They are usually only seen from the northernmost tip of Scotland but last night the Aurora Borealis, better known as the Northern Lights, gave rare and spectacular displays over parts of the West Midlands.
The rare natural phenomenon painted the skies vivid colours of of reds, greens, yellows and oranges. Colourful shimmers lit up skies as far south as Gloucestershire, Essex and Norfolk, the result of a strong magnetic storm.
This picture was taken by Ashley Burrage in Telford.
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There were other reports of people seeing the lights across other parts of Shropshire including Oswestry, Whitchurch and Shrewsbury.
The lights were even more clearly visible in Glasgow, Orkney and Aberdeenshire in Scotland, at Preston in Lancashire and in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.
And there was a spectacular display along the North Wales coast, with crowds of people watching the lights in Prestatyn.
Excited aurora-spotters took to social media websites to share their photos and experiences of the lights.
Alex Green, who works for the National Trust in Norfolk, said:
Richard Wilson, from Guildford, Surrey, saw the aurora from the air. He tweeted:
A surge in geomagnetic activity last night led to the Northern Lights appearing much further south than usual.
The display occurs when explosions on the surface of the sun hurl huge amounts of charged particles into space, according to the British Geological Survey.
Those thrown towards Earth are captured by its magnetic field and guided towards the geomagnetic polar regions.
Charged particles then collide with gas molecules in the atmosphere and the subsequent energy from the collision is given off as light.
The aurora lasted for several hours before fading during the early hours of this morning.
Did you see the Northern Lights last night? Tweet your pictures to @ExpressandStar or upload to Star Witness:
