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Northern Lights illuminate the UK Northern Lights illuminate the UK
(35 minutes later)
The Aurora Borealis - better known as the Northern Lights - has been giving rare and spectacular displays over parts of the UK, including as far south as Essex. The Aurora Borealis - better known as the Northern Lights - has been giving rare and spectacular displays over parts of the UK, from the north of Scotland to as far south as Essex and Gloucestershire.
The lights have been clearly visible off the east coast, in Norfolk, as well as the west coast, in South Wales. The lights have also been clearly visible in places such as Orkney, Norfolk, and south Wales.
The display, which is caused by electronically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere, has been seen in Foxley, Norfolk. The display, which is caused by electronically charged particles from the sun entering the earth's atmosphere, has been seen as far south as Foxley, in Norfolk.
Mark Thompson, presenter of BBC's Stargazing Live, said: "What happens is there is stuff called the solar wind, which is electronically charged particles, and they take two or three days to get here and when they do get here they cause the gas atoms in the sky to glow. It is as simple as that." Mark Thompson, presenter of BBC's Stargazing Live, who took this picture in Norfolk, said he was not expecting the display to be so spectacular.
He said: "Three or four days ago the sun will have thrown a lot of this stuff out in an event called a Coronal Mass Ejection, and they would have been travelling towards the earth since. It all depends how active the sun has been." Mr Thompson said the display, which was also seen in Gloucestershire, happens when solar wind, or electronically charged particles, are ejected from the sun. He said: "They take two or three days to get here and when they do get here they cause the gas atoms in the sky to glow. It is as simple as that."
The astronomer said they are usually pulled towards the poles but "if there are enough of them they will travel further down towards the equator and cause the lights to go further south". He said: "It is just good luck. Where I am in Norfolk I have seen it tonight and the last time I have seen it this spectacular here was probably 20 years ago." The astronomer said: "Three or four days ago the sun will have thrown a lot of this stuff out in an event called a Coronal Mass Ejection, and they would have been travelling towards the earth since. It all depends how active the sun has been." This photograph was taken in Nethybridge, in the Highlands of Scotland.