Northern Lights: Photographer captures stunning images of aurora in North Norfolk

Gary Pearson captured this stunning image in Brancaster Staithe in North Norfolk.
Gary Pearson captured this stunning image in Brancaster Staithe in North Norfolk. Credit: Gary Pearson, @GPearsonJPEGs

Stunning photographs of the northern lights were captured across the East of England on Sunday night.

Aurora displays this far south are rare, with sightings more common in the north of England and Scotland.

Photographer Gary Pearson captured several images of the display at Brancaster Staithe in North Norfolk.

He said it was "one of the best Aurora shows I’ve seen down here in Norfolk".

He added that the lights were "clearly visible to the naked eye" but it was the long exposure taken by the camera "that picks up the vivid colours when this far South".

Gary Pearson said the long exposure on the camera picks out the vivid colours of the aurora. Credit: Gary Pearson, @GPearsonJPEGs

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.

Meteorologists say it could appear again on Monday night.

The Met Office 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's quite rare to see the northern lights in North Norfolk. Credit: Gary Pearson, @GPearsonJPEGs

The lights are caused by solar storms on the surface of the sun giving out clouds of electrically charged particles which can travel millions of miles and collide with the Earth.

The display is the product of the collision between atoms and molecules from the Earth's atmosphere and particles from the sun.

Photographer Jackie Gillman captured this image from her back garden near Bury St Edmunds. Credit: Jackie Gillman

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