‘Absolutely stunning’ – Northern Lights dazzle over Northumberland
The green light danced across the sky at Howick
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Northern Lights have shone across the Northumberland coast.
Spectators at Howick watched as the spectacular green flare appeared over the North East on Friday.
The weather phenomenon was captured on camera by PA news agency photographer Owen Humphreys, who described it as “a great show”.
“What a great show last night at Howick in Northumberland coast,” he tweeted.
“As soon as it was dark we had the Northern Lights showing, then two big bursts of activity, green in the sky for several hours.”
One Twitter user wrote “I cannot imagine just how glorious it must be to see the sky light up like that. One day I hope I get to witness it for myself.”
Another simply tweeted “Absolutely stunning”.
The phenomenon, which is a common sight over the Arctic, northern Canada, Scandinavia and Russia, is rarely visible in the UK.
But towards the end of last year, the northern lights were seen as far south as Devon. Weeks before, stargazers in Yorkshire enjoyed a rare glimpse of the colourful event.
The light show is due to eletrically-charged particles from the sun tha collide with the Earth’s magnetosphere,
The heating from this causes oxygen and nitrogen - the main gases in the atmosphere - to react by giving off green, blue, pink and yellow colours seen in the northern lights.
Towards the end of last year, meteorologists warned of a solar storm that would increase the intensity of the northern lights.