{"id":242396,"date":"2026-01-20T10:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T10:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/242396\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T10:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T10:48:12","slug":"northern-lights-illuminate-uk-skies-in-hues-of-pink-and-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/242396\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Lights illuminate UK skies in hues of pink and green"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watch: Security camera footage show the skies illuminated in pink and green tones<\/p>\n

Skies across the UK have been illuminated in hues of green and pink by the Northern Lights.<\/p>\n

The natural phenomenon – known as the Aurora Borealis – is the result of solar eruptions sending particles towards the Earth and interacting with particles in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

The Northern Lights are mostly visible near the Arctic Circle but at times of high solar activity can be seen in other areas.<\/p>\n

Photos sent in to the BBC show dazzling images of light experienced on Monday evening across Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales as well as in parts of south-west, southern, eastern and northern England. <\/p>\n

\"HangHang Ross\/BBC Weather Watchers<\/p>\n

Northern Lights seen in bursts of green, pink and yellow in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, England<\/p>\n

\"GDW\/BBCGDW\/BBC Weather Watchers<\/p>\n

A scarlet, pink and green-toned sky in Dartington, Devon, England<\/p>\n

Auroras were reportedly visible as far south as Veneto and Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, and C\u00f4te d’Azur in the south of France.<\/p>\n

The signal for aurora is not as strong for Tuesday night, so it will not extend as far south, and skies will be cloudier across the UK.<\/p>\n

However, there will be some clear skies across northern and eastern Scotland, and possibly in Northern Ireland early in the night as well.<\/p>\n

Monday’s stunning aurora was the result of a severe geomagnetic storm caused by a coronal mass ejection (CME) – waves of charged particles that erupt from the sun’s surface.<\/p>\n

As they approach Earth, they interact with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, creating the colours we see in the night sky. Oxygen atoms glow green and nitrogen red, blue and pink.<\/p>\n

We are currently in a period of high solar activity, called solar maximum, during the sun’s 21-year cycle. The sun has more sunspots which emit CMEs and solar flares – waves of electromagnetic radiation – and so we see more aurorae on Earth.<\/p>\n

Geomagnetic storms and solar flares are perfectly safe for us as we are protected from the radiation by our atmosphere, but they can interfere with technology.<\/p>\n

The aurora is best viewed under clear skies. Look to the north for a faint glow at first and if you can’t see the colours, try through a camera lens or on your phone.<\/p>\n

\"dani_photography83\/BBCdani_photography83\/BBC Weather Watchers<\/p>\n

A pink haze frames an overturned ship in Pin Mill, Suffolk, England<\/p>\n

\"DeniseDenise Casey<\/p>\n

Green skies above Prestatyn, north Wales<\/p>\n

\"Skywatcher\/BBCSkywatcher\/BBC Weather Watchers<\/p>\n

Beams of green and pink light illuminate Haddington in East Lothian, Scotland<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Get our flagship newsletter with all the headlines you need to start the day. Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch: Security camera footage show the skies illuminated in pink and green tones Skies across the UK have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":["post-242396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242396","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=242396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}