Northern Lights display captured across East Midlands

Image source, Luke Palms

Image caption, The Northern Lights created a show over Rutland Water

The Northern Lights lit up the sky across the East Midlands on Tuesday - with many stargazers capturing the phenomenon.

Clear skies meant the display could be seen by people in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire.

The aurora borealis, as it is officially known, is created when energised particles from the sun hit Earth's upper atmosphere.

There were sightings as far south as Dorset.

The Earth's magnetic field deflect the particles towards the poles, which means the lights are more common in those areas.

Image source, Paul Nixon

Image caption, The Northern Lights over Newbold

Luke Palms, from Oakham, who took his shot at Rutland Water, is a seasoned Northern Lights chaser.

He said: "I've been to Iceland to see them and have an app on my phone which tracks them, so when I got an alert I headed out.

"It was just before midnight and it was really quite a strong display for this far south.

"It can be tricky to get them on camera but these were clearly visible to the eye."

Image source, Mark Haslehurst

Image caption, This image of the Northern Lights was taken over Shirebrook

Image source, Rachel Fordham

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