The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis and a common occurrence within the Arctic circle, were spotted in northern England, north Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland on Wednesday with more displays expected in the coming weeks.
The improved chances of a sighting in Britain are due to the combined effect of a “coronal hole” near the sun’s equator, which had aligned with Earth and was sending high-speed solar winds to buffet the planet, and the time of year.
A Met Office spokesman said: “We are now in a period, lasting a few weeks, where these two factors are working together to increase the chances of geomagnetic disturbances, which in turn bring with them the aurora.
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