Northern lights spotted in skies at Dean Clough Reservoir

John Walsh spotted the light phenomenon at Dean Clough Reservoir, near Langho, and went out in the early hours of the morning in order to capture them on camera.

He said: “I went out ‘aurora hunting’ earlier this morning and this was my first real success at photographing it.”

Northern light spotted from Dean Clough Reservoir, near Langho (Image: John Walsh)

John shared his picture to social media and dozens of people were amazed.

One person said: “It’s amazing to see that so close to home.”

Another said: “Amazing photos.”

“Absolutely stunning,” said another.

A Met Office spokesperson said the Northern Lights were seen across much of the UK last night and were caused by a geomagnetic storm in the atmosphere.

They said: “The cause of this storm is the arrival of two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that left the sun several days ago.

“These powerful blasts of plasma arrived at Earth late yesterday, causing geomagnetic storms and allowed the northern lights to visible across large parts of the country overnight.”

While the CMEs aren’t expected to be as powerful today, the Met Office say the aurora could be visible tonight, especially in the north.

They said: “Whilst the effects of these CMEs are likely to wane today, there is also the potential for the arrival of a fast solar wind from another feature on the sun known as a coronal hole later today.

“Whilst the geomagnetic storming from this is likely to be more modest, it may allow the aurora to be visible once again, predominantly across northern parts of the UK.

“The increase in solar activity is expected as we move towards the maximum of the solar cycle, and is not unusual.”