The Northern lights lit up the Sheffield sky in shades of red and green on Wednesday evening in a rare cosmic spectacle.
Many locals and astronomers have expressed their amazement on social media, sharing pictures and videos of the phenomenon.
Comments on social media said “beautiful sky”, and “Just saw them so clear! Just like in the picture”.
The Northern Lights were seen across the UK, as far south as Devon.
So, what exactly are the northern lights?
According to Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Sheffield, Simon Goodwin, the northern lights, or aurora borealis, happen because of the sun’s continuous output of highly energetic particles that propel the solar wind.
These charged particles which travel through space can get trapped along the earth’s magnetic field, which is very close to the geographical poles. These particles then come down through the atmosphere and they hit gas particles in the upper atmosphere.
They give energy to the gas particles and the gas particles then give out light.
Professor Goodwin said: “You see these lights in the sky, they tend to be green or red because the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and oxygen. And so they give out those colours.”
The most common place to see them is in the far north such as Iceland, Northern Canada, or North of Scandinavia, you can see these quite often, but they don’t normally come down to low latitudes.
There’s also southern lights as well, which happen in the South Pole, but as it is in Antarctica, no one really sees them.
How common is this phenomenon in the UK?
It all depends where exactly it happens. In the North of Scotland it is not uncommon, however, in the South of England, that would be classed as a rare occurrence.
Professor Goodwin told ShefNews that in South Yorkshire, it happens every few years, so not incredibly uncommon. But it’s still a pretty impressive sight that generates a wave of excitement.
Is this something we should worry about?
Generally no, but every 200-300 years, something like the Carrington event (a large solar storm that took place at the beginning of September 1859) could happen.
Professor Goodwin said: “If one happened now, it would be a complete disaster. It would blow all our power. The electricity would be down for weeks or months before you could get everything up and running again.”
However, this is very unlikely to happen. So for now, Sheffield can just enjoy the privilege of witnessing a glimpse of this cosmic display.
Featured image credit: Margery Noble