See Northern Lights Aurora Borealis In Colorado

Skywatchers were out in force in Northern Ireland on Friday night to see if they could spot the aurora borealis. Stephen Wallace took this photograph at Ballintoy, on the County Antrim coast.

The Northern Lights are caused by the interaction of the solar wind - a stream of charged particles escaping the Sun - and our planet's magnetic field and atmosphere. As the solar wind approaches, it distorts the Earth's magnetic field and allows some charged particles from the Sun to enter the Earth's atmosphere at the magnetic north pole and the magnetic south pole. The solar wind can cause the Earth's magnetic field lines to disconnect from our planet. When these field lines "snap back" into position, charged particles from the solar wind are again pushed into the Earth's atmosphere, causing aurora. John Purvis captured this image at Portstewart, County Londonderry. 

Skywatchers in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland could see a display of the colourful northern lights on Friday and Saturday nights. The aurora borealis will appear as a faint glow or as shifting veils of light in the sky.

Any auroras that do occur will appear successively lower in the northern sky the farther south the observer is located. Auroras happen where the Earth’s atmosphere is struck by high-speed particles from the sun.

The stronger the compression of Earth’s magnetic field the further south the aurora will be seen, and the more active the display.

The first CME erupted from the sun on 9 September. It was thrown into space by an unusually long solar flare that lasted six hours. The first CME erupted from the sun on 9 September. It was thrown into space by an unusually long solar flare that lasted six hours.