Beautiful & Eerie Skies: Spectacular Video Footage of Aurora Borealis over Britain & Northern Europe
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 29, 2012
Vivid green skies: Aurora Borealis, also called the Northern Lights, this past week over Britain and northern Europe
Mother Nature’s magnificent, humbling light show — the massive solar storms and sun flares this past week have produced brilliantly, strangely colorful skies in the northern regions of Earth unlike those seen for a number of years.
Reported by The Telegraph:
Stargazers were given an extraordinary treat after the beautiful Northern Lights made a rare appearance across parts of Britain.
The aurora borealis are rarely seen in this country but the stunning Northern Lights, which normally appear above Iceland and Norway, were seen further south this weekend due to unusual solar activity.
The skies lit up in gorgeous green arcs across much of Scotland on Sunday night and were reported as far south as Cleveland, Cumbria, Northumberland and Yorkshire.
The northern lights videos below are of the eerie, dazzling skies seen above northern Europe and the United Kingdom during the last few days.
Northern Lights: The Aurora Borealis Visible over Northern England and Scotland | January 2012
YouTube summary of the next video:
Stargazers in northern Europe are being treated to a spectacular showing of northern lights after the most powerful solar storm in six years. This time-lapse footage shows the Aurora Borealis in the skies above Trondheim, Norway (Jan. 24)
Aurora Borealis Above Trondheim, Norway – 1/24/2012
AP Raw Video (no audio): Spectacular Aurora Borealis Display over Northern Europe
Daily Mail has posted information as to where the best regions are to go to view the Northern Lights, and also provided this scientific explanation for the phenomenon:
But what exactly is the Aurora Borealis? In truth, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding this marvel of nature. However, it is understood that the phenomenon is caused by ‘solar wind’ – electrically charged particles that the sun flings across the solar system constantly – but with varying intensity.
The particles are drawn to the earth’s magnetic fields around the poles, which is why they are visible at extreme latitudes (including the southern hemisphere, where they are called the Aurora Australis).
As they bombard the earth’s atmosphere, the particles ‘ionise’, releasing charges visible as light.
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