These images are of Bradford facing north Towards Shipley and Yeadon
Social media has been alight in recent weeks with images of the Northern Lights across the UK. This stunning display was photographed by Keighley Astronomical society member Richard Crabtree from his home in Queensbury at 1130pm on Thursday 23rd March 2023. The city lights are those of Bradford.
A solar flare that left the sun on approximately 22 March took two days to travel before colliding with the earth’s atmosphere, creating a display of Northern Lights across the UK.
Unusually, the Northern Lights were seen as far south as Cornwall – and scientists say that we are more likely to see the Northern Lights over the next few years.
The cause of this particular storm was the arrival of two or three coronal mass ejections that left the Sun around 22 March. These powerful blasts of plasma caused the geomagnetic storms that meant the Northern Lights could be viewed as far south as Cornwall.
The strength of the storm was measured as a G4, which is a classed as a moderate storm but it is powerful enough that the Northern Lights were seen across the whole of the UK.