Northern Lights put on amazing show across the skies of the North East and North Yorkshire

  • Video from Grassholme Observatory in County Durham

The Northern Lights put on a breathtaking show across the skies of the north of the UK on Sunday 26 February.

Rarely spotted across so much of the country, the mesmerising colours of the Aurora Borealis were visible as far south as central England.

The phenomenon happens when electrically charged particles from space enter the Earth's upper atmosphere at high speed.

The Met Office says residents will have another chance to see the incredible show on Monday 27 February too.

Meteorlogists at the office say the reason it happened the way it did was because "a coronal hole high speed stream arrived this evening combined with a rather fast coronal mass ejection leading to Aurora sightings across the UK".

Andrew Charlton took this stunning picture during a flight to Newcastle from Colorado. Credit: Andrew Charlton
The Aurora glowing over Chopwell, Gateshead, at 4:30am. Credit: Connor Madden
This was The Derwent Walk near Hamsterley at 4:15am on Sunday 27 February. Credit: Connor Madden

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