Stunning sight of aurora captured by Cambridgeshire photographers - and there’s still a chance to witness it
These pictures show the stunning sight of the aurora captured on camera by photographers in Cambridgeshire.
The beautiful display of light is rarely seen this far south and amazed those who witnessed it on Sunday night.
It is hoped there could be another chance to see the aurora on Monday night, if the skies are clear.
The aurora - also known as northern lights - are the result of powerful solar activity.
In recent days, a strong solar flare on the surface of the Sun was directed toward Earth.
The charged particles reached the Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday night. While most are deflected away, some are captured in the Earth’s magnetic field and accelerate down towards the north and south poles, colliding with oxygen and nitrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere, creating the green and red colours.
While these are strongest over the poles, the strength of the solar flare means the charged particles can travel further away - and were reported on Sunday night as far south as Kent.
Paul Haworth, an astrophotographer who posts images on Twitter @paulhaworth, told the Cambridge Independent: “I'd noticed the solar data getting quite interesting over the course of the day, but very often those hopes are dashed.
“At about 9pm on Sunday evening, I was just sitting down for the night when I had a message from a photographer friend in the West Midlands saying she had a green glow on her camera - could it be aurora? I took one look at the image and confirmed that indeed it was, and within minutes I was out with the camera on the edge of the village (Over), completely unprepared for the bitter wind.
“But when I pointed my camera to the north and fired off the first image, vibrant red pillars of light filled the frame and proceeded to dance across the sky for around 20 minutes.
“By eye, the sky took on a distinct red hue that seemed to pulse slightly. After that, the aurora receded to become a bright green arc that hugged the horizon. I've photographed the northern lights from Cambridgeshire before, but only just.
“This just blew my mind with the intensity and colour.”
Paul said to anyone hoping to capture the not-so-northern lights on Monday evening: “There are no guarantees, but a dark northern horizon, clear skies and half-decent camera on a long exposure should nab them if they’re up.”
Rebecca Saxton, who works as a commercial photographer, also captured the spectacle at about 11pm from Cottenham.
She told the Cambridge Independent: “I was alerted by an Aurora watch app that they were visible in Scotland but the KP index was very high and the sky was clear so I went out. It takes a while for your eyes to adjust to see them this far south but a camera will pick them up well.”
A Met Office spokesperson said the rare sightings of the aurora borealis further south in the UK on Sunday night were due to the “strength” of a geomagnetic storm and the “strip of cloudless skies” in southern regions.
The national weather service tweeted: “A coronal hole high speed stream arrived this evening combined with a rather fast coronal mass ejection leading to #Aurora sightings across the UK.”
It also encouraged users to upload pictures of any other sightings using the hashtag #LoveUKWeather.
The Met Office also said there is a chance of seeing the northern lights again on Monday night.
And it is possible that they could be visible over the next few evenings.
