The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Bonfire Night this year brought some unexpected celestial fireworks to South Holland skies.
The Aurora Borealis, also known as The Northern Lights, was visible on cameras unusually further south on Sunday, November 5.
The phenomena is created by charged particles from the Sun interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field.
It’s usually consigned around the polar regions, but occasionally the sun pumps out more material in what is known as a solar storm.
That can supercharge the northern lights and make them visible at more southerly latitudes.
That’s what happened on Sunday and with modern cameras now able to pick up more detail readers have sent in their amazing pictures of the purple and green lights that were in the screen.
The colours were able to be seen with the naked eye in areas away from the street lights.
Courtney Glenn went to a dark area near Langrick.
She said: “At first it wasn’t visible to the naked eye, but as it got stronger and your eyes adjusted to the darkness, you started to see the hue of the green and the red.”
Even if you missed it this time, there may be other opportunities soon.
The Sun has an 11-year-cycle of activity. The current cycle has been more active than recent ones and scientists believe the solar maximum, where the sun is at its most active, to be sometime in 2024.
