The Northern Lights have been captured in spectacular photos over Cornwall – and the Met Office says they could be visible again from Britain tonight

Seeing the Northern Lights is on many people’s bucket lists.

And if you’re lucky, you can check it off your list tonight.

A photographer couldn’t believe his luck when he captured spectacular pictures of the aurora from Cornwall last night.

Ross Jennings, a photographer from Camborne, posted the photos on his Facebook page and wrote: ‘These pillars really flared up for about 10 minutes… and I’m pretty sure this is the strongest I’ve ever seen them .’

If you missed them, there’s good news as the Met Office says there’s a chance the stunning display can be seen again tonight.

Mr Jennings was informed of the Northern Lights at the last minute and quickly headed out to Hells Mouth Coastal Walk around midnight to try to capture them

Mr Jennings was informed of the Northern Lights at the last minute and quickly headed out to Hells Mouth Coastal Walk around midnight to try to capture them.

“After receiving a last minute Aurora warning, I headed to the North Cliffs covered in snot and freezing,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

‘And it didn’t disappoint…’

His stunning photos show the magical pink, yellow and blue lights in the night sky as the waves lapped the shore below.

Several viewers expressed their delight at the images, with one calling the photos ‘absolutely beautiful’ and another adding that his early start was ‘so worth it’.

Although auroras are best seen at night, they are actually caused by the sun.

Solar storms on the sun’s surface spread enormous clouds of electrically charged particles, some of which travel millions of kilometers before eventually colliding with Earth.

While most particles are deflected, some are caught in the Earth’s magnetic field and accelerate toward the north and south poles into the atmosphere.

‘These particles then collide with atoms and molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere and actually heat them,’ says Tom Kerss, astronomer at the Royal Observatory.

If you missed last night’s screening, the good news is that the Met Office says there is a chance it will be visible to many Britons again tonight

“We call this physical process ‘excitation,’ but it is a lot like heating a gas and making it glow.”

What we see here on Earth are atoms and molecules in our atmosphere colliding with particles from the sun.

The aurora’s characteristic wave patterns and ‘curtains’ of light are caused by the lines of force in the Earth’s magnetic field.

If you missed last night’s screening, the good news is that the Met Office says there’s a good chance it will be visible to many Brits again tonight.

“A small improvement in the aurora oval is likely over the coming days, particularly on September 14 and 15,” the Met Office explained.

‘Aurora may become visible to the naked eye along the northern horizon from Scotland (where skies are clear) and perhaps briefly Northern Ireland and Northern England.

“Activity is likely to decrease from September 16.”

WHAT ARE AURORAS AND WHAT TRIGGERS THE BEAUTIFUL NATURAL VIEWS?

The Northern and Southern Lights are natural light spectacles that are activated in our atmosphere and are also called the ‘Auroras’.

There are two types of Aurora: Aurora Borealis, which means ‘dawn of the north’, and Aurora Australis, ‘dawn of the south’.

The displays light up when electrically charged particles from the sun enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

There are two types of Aurora: Aurora Borealis (file photo), which means ‘dawn of the north’, and Aurora Australis, ‘dawn of the south’. The displays light up when electrically charged particles from the sun enter the Earth’s atmosphere

Usually the particles, also called a solar storm, are deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field.

But during stronger storms, they enter the atmosphere and collide with gas particles, including hydrogen and helium.

These collisions emit light. Aurora displays appear in many colors, although light green and pink are common.