{"id":241777,"date":"2026-01-20T02:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/241777\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T02:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:23:11","slug":"rare-red-toned-aurora-borealis-lights-up-skies-across-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/241777\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare red-toned Aurora Borealis lights up skies across Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BBCBBC WeatherWatchers\/Highland Dean<\/p>\n

Weather watchers enjoy the bright skies over Dyke in Moray<\/p>\n

Striking red and green skies have been seen across Scotland as the Aurora Borealis lit up the sky nationwide.<\/p>\n

The aurora – also known as the Northern Lights – appear as bright, swirling curtains of light in the night sky and range in colour from green to pink and scarlet.<\/p>\n

The phenomenon was seen widely across Scotland on Monday, from Orkney in the north all the way to the Borders.<\/p>\n

It is caused by charged particles from the sun hitting gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

The two most common gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are nitrogen and oxygen. Oxygen atoms glow green – the colour most often seen in the Northern Lights, while nitrogen atoms emit purple, blue and pink.<\/p>\n

The most impressive auroras occur when the Sun emits really large clouds of particles called “coronal mass ejections”.<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC Weather Watchers\/RockDodger<\/p>\n

The colourful display of lights could be seen over the Clyde in Gourock<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC WeatherWatchers\/Leonard<\/p>\n

The aurora was captured over Dunwoodie Mains in Dumfries and Galloway<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC Weather Watchers\/Wee Von<\/p>\n

A wall of the red lights could be seen from Lochgoilhead in Argyll and Bute<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC Weather Watchers\/Jane O<\/p>\n

Also in Argyll and Bute, this photo was taken in Achnacroish<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC Weather Watchers\/Skywatcher<\/p>\n

In East Lothian, the Northern Lights were visible above the seaside town of Cockenzie<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC Weather Watchers\/Golden Rules<\/p>\n

It is much rarer to see the lights above cities like Edinburgh<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC Weather Watchers\/GeorgePhoenix<\/p>\n

This pictures was taken in Kirkton of Airlie, Angus<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC Weather Watchers\/Nowhere Girl<\/p>\n

The aurora looked more purple-toned above Clackmannanshire<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC Weather Watchers\/Hol<\/p>\n

Steness in Orkney was also treated to a light show<\/p>\n

Have you seen the Northern Lights. You can submit your pictures to BBC Weather Watchers<\/a> or to scotlandpictures@bbc.co.uk.<\/p>\n

Please ensure you adhere to the BBC’s rules on photography that can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n

In contributing to BBC News you agree to grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the material in any way, including in any media worldwide.<\/p>\n

However, you will still own the copyright to everything you contribute to BBC News.<\/p>\n

At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe the law. You can find more information here.<\/a><\/p>\n

All photos are subject to copyright.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC WeatherWatchers\/Highland Dean Weather watchers enjoy the bright skies over Dyke in Moray Striking red and green skies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-241777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}