{"id":244329,"date":"2026-01-21T12:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/244329\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:32:16","slug":"manx-photographers-wowed-by-northern-lights-kaleidoscope-of-colours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/244329\/","title":{"rendered":"Manx photographers wowed by Northern Lights &#8216;kaleidoscope of colours&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768389368_961_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c1def950-f5fa-11f0-842b-5772902eef21.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Nigel Fairclough Landscape shot of the northern lights from the Point of Ayre. A lighthouse can be seen looking over the coast whilst the sky is lit in bright pinks, greens and purple.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Nigel Fairclough<\/p>\n<p>Amateur photographer Nigel Fairclough captured the Aurora Borealis from the Point of Ayre<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Photographers on the Isle of Man have captured one of the strongest recent displays of the Northern Lights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Nigel Fairclough, who lives near the Point of Ayre, has taken several snaps of the Northern Lights throughout the year as part of his hobby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He took photos of the display on Monday and said: &#8220;I was watching it dance above my head, it was too mesmerising to take photographs of it all the time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Kirsty Pendlebury from Ronaldsway Met Office said the lack of cloud that evening meant conditions were good to see the spectacle, particularly in the north of the island. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768389368_961_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/91f2bd10-f601-11f0-842b-5772902eef21.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Nigel Fairclough Landscape shot of the northern lights from the Point of Ayre. The lighthouse, painted red and white, sits under a bright red, yellow and blue sky.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Nigel Fairclough<\/p>\n<p>Point of Ayre, the northern-most tip of the Isle of Man, last night dazzling under the light<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Mr Fairclough said: &#8220;When you&#8217;re taking a photograph, you sometimes miss the moment, you&#8217;ve just got to stand there and go &#8216;wow&#8217;, that&#8217;s what I was doing last night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;The colours change in front of your eyes, a kaleidoscope of colours, it was magical &#8211; that&#8217;s the only word to describe it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;I just like being out there under the stars, I couldn&#8217;t believe I was out there on my own.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768389368_961_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/7c3e1c40-f605-11f0-842b-5772902eef21.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Alan Kneen Landscape shot of the Northern Lights taken from a field. The sky is dark red bursting into bright green and yellow.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Alan Kneen<\/p>\n<p>Alan Kneen&#8217;s photograph of the Northern Lights stretching over the island<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The display comes during a period of high solar activity, called solar maximum, during the sun&#8217;s 21-year cycle. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Pendlebury said the Aurora Borealis has been seen on the island several times before, but its visibility to those on land depends on clear skies and a forecasted high solar activity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;This was the case for more northern parts of the island during the evening, before a weather front brought cloudier skies and outbreaks of rain which limited the potential to view them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768389368_961_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4f7fb8a0-f612-11f0-a4e1-69699e3199a6.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Nigel Fairclough Point of Ayre's Lighthouse, or 'The Winkie' and the Fog Horn last night amongst the Northern Lights. The sky is green and pale red.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Nigel Fairclough<\/p>\n<p>Point of Ayre&#8217;s Lighthouse, or &#8216;The Winkie&#8217; and the Fog Horn last night<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nigel Fairclough Amateur photographer Nigel Fairclough captured the Aurora Borealis from the Point of Ayre Photographers on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-244329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244329","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=244329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}