In a very rare display of nature, the northern lights, or aurora borealis, were seen across the United Kingdom on Sunday night, with the phenomenon expected to return in the coming nights as well. According to the BBC, several parts of the northern UK witnessed the mesmerising lights after a very long time. Notably, an aurora is formed by a solar flare erupting on the Sun, sending charged particles towards Earth which interact with our atmosphere.
Taking to Twitter, the UK's Met office shared a series of pictures which showed green, pink and red lights over the country's south. In the caption, the Met Office explained that the lights were caused by the arrival of a “coronal hole high-speed stream” as well as a “ rather fast coronal mass ejection,” contributing to geomagnetic storms and allowing for better northern lights conditions.
The BBC reported that northern lights can be often observed in the UK's Scotland, but they are very rare in southern England. However, on Sunday night, these sightings were observed in Northern Ireland, South Wales and Norfolk as well.
Auroras are vibrant displays of light that are caused when gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere and charged particles from the Sun collide. This phenomenon occurs in the Earth's upper atmosphere and is mostly seen at high or polar latitudes. However, if there is a strong solar flare, the charged particles can travel further away from the poles into middle latitudes such as southern England.
The colours of the aurora are affected by the types of gas particles in the Earth's atmosphere with which the solar wind particles collide. Nitrogen produces blue and purple colours, whereas oxygen produces green and red colours.
Meanwhile, according to ABC News, parts of North America were also privy to the light display on Sunday night. The lights were visible in places like Fairbanks, Alaska, and Calgary, Canada.
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