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Northern Lights dazzle across South West skies

Erin Black,Devonand
Lisa Young,Cornwall
News imagePoppy / Weather Watchers Green, pink, orange and pale yellow light glows above the beach and is reflected in the sea and wet sand.Poppy / Weather Watchers
The Northern Lights seen over Croyde Bay in north Devon

Parts of south-west England have been treated to a dazzling display of the Northern Lights.

The lights, or Aurora Borealis, are the result of solar eruptions sending particles towards Earth and the subsequent interaction of those particles with the Earth's atmosphere.

A coronal mass ejection (CME), a large eruption of charged matter from the Sun, left the Sun on Sunday, the Met Office said.

It said the CME was likely "to bring aurora across Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England, and potentially further south".

John Acres at Breakfast talking to Devon astronomer and Sky at Night presenter Chris Lintott on BBC Radio Devon

Observers were treated to a full display of pink, red, and green hues as the lights shone over Devon and Cornwall at about 21:30 GMT on Thursday.

News imageShedders/Weather Watchers A red and yellow sky is studded with stars above a beach and reflected in the sea and wet sand with silhouetted cliffs left and right framing the view.Shedders/Weather Watchers
News imageSumutd1985/Weather Watchers Green and pink skies are reflected in the sea and the headland is in silhouette. Sumutd1985/Weather Watchers
St Agnes witnessed strong red hues fading to orange, yellow and pale green
The main colours were neon pink and green in Westward Ho!

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