Spectacular Photos Capture Northern Lights Over Cornwall; Met Office Predicts Potential UK Visibility Tonight

Seeing the Northern Lights is something on many people’s bucket lists.

And if you’re lucky, you might be able to cross it off your list tonight.

A photographer couldn’t believe his luck when he took spectacular photos of the aurora from Cornwall last night.

Ross Jennings, a photographer from Camborne, posted the photos on his Facebook page and wrote: “These pillars really popped for about 10 minutes… and I’m pretty sure it’s the loudest I’ve ever seen them.”

If you missed them, there’s good news as the Met Office says there’s a chance the stunning display will appear again tonight.

Jennings was alerted to the Northern Lights at the “last minute” and quickly headed around midnight to the Hells Mouth Coastal Walk to try to photograph them.

Jennings was alerted to the Northern Lights at the “last minute” and quickly headed for the Hells Mouth Coastal Walk around midnight to try and photograph them.

“After receiving an aurora alert at the last minute, snotty-nosed and freezing cold, I headed to the North Cliffs,” he posted on his Facebook page.

‘And it didn’t disappoint…’

His stunning photographs show the magical pink, yellow and blue lights in the night sky, as waves lap the shore below him.

Several viewers expressed their delight in the images, with one calling the photos “absolutely gorgeous” and another adding that her early start “paid off.”

While auroras are best seen at night, they are actually caused by the Sun.

Solar storms on the sun’s surface generate huge clouds of electrically charged particles, some of which travel millions of miles to eventually collide with Earth.

While most particles are deflected, some are captured in Earth’s magnetic field, accelerating toward the north and south poles into the atmosphere.

“These particles then collide with atoms and molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere and essentially heat them up,” said Tom Kerss, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory.

If you missed last night’s display, the good news is that the Met Office says there’s a chance many Brits will be able to see it again tonight.

“We call this physical process “excitation,” but it is very similar to heating a gas and making it glow.”

Here on Earth, what we are seeing are atoms and molecules in our atmosphere colliding with particles from the Sun.

The wavy patterns and “curtains” of light characteristic of the aurora are caused by lines of force in the Earth’s magnetic field.

If you missed last night’s display, the good news is that the Met Office says there’s a chance many Brits will be able to see it again tonight.

“It is likely that in the coming days there will be a small improvement in the auroral oval, especially on September 14 and 15,” explained the Meteorological Office.

‘The aurora may become visible to the naked eye along the northern horizon from Scotland (where the sky is clear) and perhaps briefly over Northern Ireland and northern England.

“Activity is likely to decrease from September 16 onwards.”

WHAT ARE AURORAS AND WHAT TRIGGERS THE STUNNING NATURAL SHOWS?

The northern and southern lights are natural light shows unleashed in our atmosphere that are also known as ‘Auroras’.

There are two types of auroras: the aurora borealis, which means “northern dawn,” and the aurora australis, “southern dawn.”

The displays light up when electrically charged particles from the sun enter Earth’s atmosphere.

There are two types of auroras: the aurora borealis (file photo), which means “northern dawn,” and the aurora australis, “southern dawn.” The displays light up when electrically charged particles from the sun enter Earth’s atmosphere.

Normally the particles, sometimes called a solar storm, are deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field.

But during stronger storms they enter the atmosphere and collide with gas particles, including hydrogen and helium.

These collisions emit light. Auroras appear in many colors, although pale green and pink are common.