Northern Lights put on spectacular display as people share their sightings of the aurora borealis

The Northern Lights have returned to the UK in spectacular style, visible across huge parts of the country.

This year, the famed aurora has made a couple of appearances as far south as the UK, producing stunning pictures as a result.

The phenomena is chiefly influenced by geomagnetic storms, of which the Met Office said there was a "severe" one due to reach Earth overnight on 10 October.

This brought sightings of the aurora all over the UK on Thursday night, with reports that it was visible across Britain, as far south as Sussex.

The Met Office had said that viewings were likely in Scotland and Northern Ireland and possible in the north of England and the Midlands.

However, thanks in part to relatively clear skies, they were visible for huge numbers of Britons well beyond this.

Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon said that further residual viewings could be possible over the weekend - but this is likely to be confined to the likes of Scotland.

Rain and cloud could also obscure further viewings over the weekend.

Near peak solar cycle

The auroras are most common over high polar latitudes but can sometimes spread south over parts of the UK.

The geomagnetic storms that chiefly influence them often originate from the sun, which works on a cycle of around 11 years with peak sunspot activity referred to as solar maximum.

Sunspots give the potential for Earth-directed releases of large bursts of energy, called coronal mass ejections (CME), which can lead to aurora visibility.

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Mr Dixon said: "We're near the peak of that solar cycle so there have been more space weather events in recent months.

"International prediction centres, including the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre, are expecting solar maximum to be later this year or early next year."

It will still be possible to see the Northern Lights once we pass solar maximum but there will be a decline in such activity.

The aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere around the magnetic polls.

As they smash into one another, they emit light at various wavelengths, creating the stunning sights.

(c) Sky News 2024: Northern Lights put on spectacular display as people share their sightings of the aurora borealis