Northern Lights dance across Yorkshire skies

The Northern Lights lit up Yorkshire on Thursday night with cameras turned skyward to capture the phenomenon.

Splashes of red, green and purple beamed above towns and countryside across much of the ridings as the evening went on.

BBC Lead Weather Presenter Simon King said the colourful displays were visible "after an extremely geomagnetic storm".

Many people saw the aurora from about 19:00 BST, before it weakened slightly and then came back more strongly at midnight.

The phenomenon, also known as the aurora borealis, is caused by charged particles from the sun hitting gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.

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They have been particularly visible in 2024 due to the biggest geomagnetic storm since 2003, according to Sean Elvidge, a professor in space environment at the University of Birmingham.

"What used to be a once-in-a-lifetime event for people to see it in the UK – or a bucket list trip to the Arctic circle – has become more common in the last couple of years," added Mr King.

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