Photographers capture Northern Lights display
The Northern Lights have been visible in the region as photographers captured the incredible colours on camera.
Steven Lomas and Glenn Wheatley were among those looking to the skies on Saturday at Souter Lighthouse, resulting in incredible pictures with the sky bathed in green and purple.
If you’re ever hoping to see the aurora, Met Office forecasters say your best chance is on a clear night with no cloud cover, and in a dark location with no light pollution.
And while Saturday night may have been a chilly one for the region’s photographers, it was certainly worth it when you see the results.
Steven, 35, said: “The alerts for the Northern Lights came through early in the night and were visible on camera from around 8pm.
"They were then visible as a white/grey band of light across the sky when it was at its strongest, with movement of the aurora briefly visible to the eye.”
While the Northern Lights are sometimes visible in the North of England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, the Met Office explained that they can sometimes be difficult to see with the naked eye.
This is due to a number of factors including light pollution and twilight.
Instead, they often appear much brighter in pictures, thanks to photographers’ use of long exposure, which
allows an excess of light into the camera.
Glenn, 49, has lived in Sunderland for 12 years. He took up photography last August as a means of getting out and about.
He took his picture of the phenomenon at around 10pm on Saturday, using a DLSR camera. In his image, you can see bright green dancing on the skyline.
Photographer Steven, who has been lucky enough to picture the phenomenon before, added that seeing
them was an “amazing experience”.
"You never know how it’s going to develop, sometimes it turns into a brilliant display and sometimes it fizzles away to nothing,” Steven, of South Shields, added.
"But that’s the nature of aurora and why it is termed ‘the tricky lady’, because you don’t know if she will give a show or not.”
The UK lies to the south of the natural aurora belt, which occurs Greenland, Iceland and Norway.