Spectacular skies

Friday night was very special indeed.  A rare phenomenon, seldom seen on these shores. The strongest rated geomagnetic storm since 2003, which produced a series of strong solar flares from the surface of the sun, sending a wave of magnetically charged plasma directly at the Earth.

For years I could only dream of witnessing such a spectacle, the displays I last night are usually only seen in the far Northern Hemisphere, places like the Artic, Norway, Sweden spring to mind.  Last night’s display ticked off a lifelong ambition and I only had to walk about 20 paces from the comfort of my settee to enjoy it!

The aurora borealis or as we better know it, the Northern Lights, seems to making an appearance more often in the UK skies these days. Places like the far north of Scotland are used to catching a glimpse of nature’s magical light display but they seem to be being enjoyed almost anywhere in the UK, including as far south as the Scilly Isles.

The varying colours are caused by charged particles from the sun hitting gases in the Earth’s atmosphere with the green typical of oxygen, whilst purple, blue or pink are caused by nitrogen.

To think, over the last few months, each time I received an aurora alert, I would quickly rise from my comfortable position watching television, donning the appropriate footwear and racing up the road to my nearest ‘dark’ spot to be often met with disappointment. I have managed to catch a glimpse on camera a couple of times but the lights of Shipley town do greatly affect its appearance.  If only, like last night, I had previously had the brain wave to simply switch off my outdoor security light and view the spectacle from my back garden.

It is possible the lights may make an appearance again tonight for those that missed it. Let’s hope so, although I think last night’s images are going to be pretty hard to beat.

Please enjoy a collection of photos I took with my phone during last night’s garden excitement.

Eyes to the skies people. Cancel that flight to Lapland!