The Northern Lights lit up an unusually wide stretch of Britain’s skies on Thursday night amid a flurry of geomagnetic storms.

Typically a rare sight over the UK – and even rarer south of the Scottish highlands – its vivid colours were spotted across England and Wales.

Photos show a belt of southern sightings from the Brecon Beacons to Suffolk, dipping down to Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

Skywatchers also snapped the aurora in the Wirral, Merseyside, Whitley Bay in Tyne and Wear, and rural Northamptonshire.

Weatherquest meteorologist Dan Holley said the ‘spectacular’ lights he saw in Long Stratton, Norfolk, was ‘arguably the best display I’ve seen this far south with the naked eye’.

The aurora’s displays are linked to solar winds, a current of charged particles fired out from the sun’s furnaces which produce colourful light by disturbing particules in the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

The Met Office linked Thursday’s sightings to a ‘moderate’ geomagnetic storm likely caused by a huge solar eruption on Monday.

Wait patiently all evening for the frontal wave to clear 🌧️, leaving a spectacular display of the aurora here in south Norfolk – arguably the best display I’ve seen by eye this far south (52.5°N) #AuroraBorealis #northernlights pic.twitter.com/5yKJMhPJeB

It was strong enough to produce the aurora’s effect across the whole of the UK, but actual sights are limited by cloud cover and light pollution.

Forecasts suggest there will be a heightened chance of displays at around midnight on Sunday before tailing off as spring advances.

Similar solar eruptions produced an array of visible displays as far south as Wales, Kent and Cornwall in late February.

Meanwhile on Thursday, scientists in Sweden used a rocket to create an artificial aurora display as part of research to improve space weather forecasts.

Waves of green and white lights were produced by harmless particles fired out of the rocket at an altitude of 60-120 miles, and ironically blocked out natural aurora lights.

Space weather forecasts are crucial to protecting satellite systems behind mobile phone networks, GPS systems and modern TV.

Lead researcher Tima Sergienko told the AFP news agency: ‘In some cases when we have strong ionic activity, all this stuff can be destroyed due to space weather.’

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