Northern Lights dance across Devon and Cornwall

Communities across Devon and Cornwall cast their eyes to the skies as the Northern Lights danced across the region.

Known as aurora borealis, the lights became visible after one of Earth's strongest geomagnetic storms to date.

The storm sparked a warning from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

According to BBC weather, Friday evening's clear skies boosted the chances of catching one of nature's most fascinating spectacles.

Storms of this scale could potentially impact infrastructure, including satellites and the power grid, the NOAA warned.

Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said "conditions could continue on Saturday night, but we still have to work out some details on where exactly that will be".

What are the Northern Lights?

The Northern Lights - or aurora borealis - appear as bright, swirling curtains of lights in the night sky and range in colour from green to pink and scarlet.

It is caused by charged particles from the sun hitting gases in the Earth's atmosphere.

The colours occur due to different gases in the Earth's atmosphere being energised by the charged particles.

The two most common gases in the Earth's atmosphere are nitrogen and oxygen. Oxygen atoms glow green - the colour most often seen in the Northern Lights, while nitrogen atoms emit purple, blue and pink.

The most impressive auroras occur when the Sun emits really large clouds of particles called "coronal mass ejections".

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