Brit stargazers were given a rare treat as a solar storm and clear skies meant the stunning Northern Lights were visible in the UK as far south as Devon.
The Northern Lights are normally only visible in latitudes closer to the Arctic with Scandinavian countries typically able to see the dazzling light display.
But hardy stargazers who braved the cold weather were able to get a vivid view of green, red and other coloured lights streaking through the night across the UK and as far south as Devon.
Many shared their dramatic photoson social media.
One person, who snapped a vibrant green sky behind trees, captioned a pic: “More aurora joy from the back door tonight."
A Twitter user captured a mixture of red and green lights in their snap which was taken in Berefold, Aberdeenshire.
Another in Scotland said: “Fairly rare appearance of the Northern Lights in Prestwick tonight, must be amazing for those with less light pollution.”
Most of the dramatic images were taken in Scotland but others snapped photos of the Northern Lights a lot further south.
“The Northern Lights were visible over Devon this evening - this was taken at about 2100 near Crediton,” wrote another Twitter user.
The Met Office had predicted that the amazing Northern Lights could be visible this week with the aurora of colour caused by a geomagnetic storm.
A coronal mass ejection (CME) had been seen on its way form the Sun and when the charged particles meet the Earth’s magnetosphere it sets off the light show.
It is when the solar flares or CMEs are extra strong that the Northern Lights can be seen further south.
This autumn there have been more geomagnetic storms than normal and last week on Halloween there were also some vivid light displays that could be seen from the UK.
The solar discharge can impact some of the planet's orbiting satellite arrays, meaning some mobile devices may stop working temporarily.
When the Sun first fired its latest flare, it caused a near-immediate impact in South America.
Most of the continent, at the time facing the star, briefly lost radio capabilities.
Solar flares are divided into categories according to their strength and the one that was fired off on Halloween was an X1-class.
They are classified in a letter system, with C-class being relatively weak, M-class moderate and X-class flares as the strongest.
Among X-class ones, “an X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense”, according to NASA.
The one that has currently hit the Earth is an X1 flare which, despite being the least intense of the X-class flares, is still capable of wreaking havoc by interfering with radio and satellite communications.
