Northern Lights put on a show in the Midlands

The Northern Lights put on a spectacular show in the Midlands with their bright pink and green hues visible on Thursday night.

ITV News Central viewers sent in their photos of the natural phenomenon, also known as aurora borealis.

If you have photos of the Northern Lights you would like to share, send them to centralnews@itv.com.

The lights could be seen across England, as far South as Kent and East Anglia, and were also spotted further north in Lancaster.

Nick Hart from sent in this photo of the Northern Lights in Tamworth:

The Met Office had said relatively clear skies forecast for much of the UK created a "decent chance of visibility."

A spokesman for the forecaster said there had been “more space weather events in recent months”, including the Northern Lights, because the sun was nearing the peak of its solar cycle.

This photo of the aurora lighting up the Nottingham sky was sent in by Ethan Crowe:

The auroras on Earth, which are most commonly seen over high polar latitudes but can spread south, are mainly influenced by geomagnetic storms which originate from activity on the Sun.

The sun works on a cycle of around 11 years called the solar cycle – with peak sunspot activity on the surface of the Sun referred to as solar maximum.

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

Robert Swift spotted the Northern Lights over Lichfield:

Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.

As they collide, light is emitted at various wavelengths, creating colourful displays in the sky.

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