With the return of the Northern Lights in the UK last night, let’s take a look at some of the most beautiful images of these celestial events from over the years.
Rare Aurora Skies in Bournemouth:
These stunning meteors and aurora skies across Bournemouth, UK, only happen once a year and are extremely tricky to capture due to the air pollution.
The way these different coloured lights and meteors change across the sky throughout the night, created beautiful patterns for hours.
Joseph Anthony, from Bournemouth, UK, captured the amazing rarity on camera.
He said: “Many people who know about that aurora night and who saw the timelapse I made tell me it’s the best video footage of that aurora they have seen, and I’ve not seen any aurora videos from that night at Knowlton.
“I saw lots of meteors while I was capturing the timelapse. I noticed the sky was changing colour a bit too which was the Aurora starting to show.
“I was excited that both events were happening at the same time and it was a lovely calm clear night too with the moon having set already which helped to darken the skies.”
Joseph added: “I was surprised I was able to capture the aurora this bright in Bournemouth from my back garden!
“Usually, there’s too much light pollution as well but the stars were bright, and the distant lights of the town didn’t seem too intrusive.
Joseph exclaimed that the already set quarter moon set this scene up to be an unforgettable moment.
Purple Northern Lights in Essex:
These amazing pictures capture the moment one photographer posed in front of these insanely rare purple northern lights.
Mark Draper, a photographer from North Essex, has been photographing the night sky for the last eight years and managed to capture this rare moment on camera from the top of a hill in Gestingthorpe, Essex.
Mark said: “I was just waiting for match of the day to come on the TV and caught the weather forecast before and they said the Aurora was very active so I thought I would miss match of the day to take a chance to try again to capture this phenomenon.
“I didn’t believe I would see much if anything, but I was blown away by what my camera was picking up.”
That’s definitely a picture to be framed!
Shooting stars in Dorset:
These breathtaking northern lights act as the most incredible backdrop to Knowlton Church in Dorset, UK.
With an especially strong solar storm bringing news that the aurora borealis would be visible from the UK, photographer Joseph Anthony set out once again.
This time Joseph headed to the 12th-century ruins to get his shot of the night sky.
The images capture the beautiful colour display put on by the solar phenomena and Joseph even managed to see a shooting star.
The event is rarely spotted as far south as England and it is even harder to capture it on camera.
Joseph said: “I’m still pinching myself that it happened.
“Not only that it happened but happened with this intensity so far south in the UK.”
He added: “I did not expect the purples, pinks, blues and reds which actually were the dominant colours last night compared to the amount of greens.”
“When the first massive pillars appeared, a crowd by the church all cheered and clapped.”
“I could feel the excitement and how amazed everyone was to witness such a rare sight.”
Let’s hope you were as lucky as these sky-watchers and were able to see the mesmerising northern lights last night.
If not, these stunning images offer a glimpse of the magic that blessed the UK’s night skies.