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North coast lit up by northern lights

PHOTOGRAPHERS scrambled to capture the northern lights show as they lit up skies over Ireland and Britain this week.

The lights could be clearly seen on the north coast yesterday morning and in northern parts of Co Donegal.

The aurora borealis phenomenon is most commonly seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres.

They only appear above Ireland or Britain two or three times a year.

A surge in geomagnetic activity on Thursday night led to them appearing much further south than usual.

The display occurs when explosions on the surface of the Sun hurl huge amounts of charged particles into space, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS).

Those thrown towards earth are captured by its magnetic field and guided towards the geomagnetic polar regions. Charged particles collide with gas molecules in the atmosphere, and the subsequent energy is given off as light.

Geomagnetic storms follow an 11-year "solar cycle", and the last "solar maximum" was last year, according to the BGS.

Many different colours can be seen in the lights.

Green and pink are the most common, but red, blue and yellow are also possible.

In the southern hemisphere the lights are known as the aurora australis and often occur at the same time as the northern lights. Nasa astronaut Mike Hopkins tweeted a striking picture of the southern lights from the International Space Station on Thursday.

* SPECTACULAR: In the main picture at the top of the page, the northern lights dance above Dunluce Castle near Portrush, Co Antrim yesterday morning. ABOVE: The aurora borealis at St Mary's Lighthouse and Visitor Centre, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside. RIGHT: An image of the southern lights tweeted from the International Space Station

PICTURES: Margaret McLaughlin (main),

PA and Nasa