'Strong' aurora borealis captured from living room

A stargazer has captured a powerful display of the aurora borealis from her living room.

Karen Munro regularly films and photographs the aurora near her home in Caithness but was unable to go out on Thursday because she was unwell.

She set up a camera to capture footage for a time lapse of the Northern Lights through a window while she slept.

Ms Munro said the footage was "burnt out" in places due to the aurora "being so strong".

The display was filmed visible between 03:00 and 04:00 on Thursday.

Ms Munro said: "Usually the light pollution of Scrabster Harbour drowns out the aurora, but this display was quite special."

The aurora borealis is caused by the interaction of the solar wind - a stream of charged particles escaping the Sun - and Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere.

The Northern and Western isles, the Highlands and north east Scotland offer some of the best places to observe the Northern Lights at night.

In February this year, a Nasa astronaut photographed the aurora borealis over Scotland from the International Space Station.

Baltimore-born Terry Virts, a member of Expedition 42 to the space station, captured the image of the Northern Lights.

ISS orbits between 230-286 miles (370-460km) above the Earth's surface.