The Northern Lights lit up the sky in bright pink hues on Thursday night. Photos of the dazzling natural phenomenon, also known as the Aurora Borealis, have been taken across England.

The lights could be seen as far south as London, Kent and East Anglia.

Further north in Lancaster, Prof Jim Wild, 49, viewed the Northern Lights from his garden. The scientist, who studies the auroras and space weather at Lancaster University, said: “My research focuses on the physics of the connections between the Sun and Earth.

“I have been to the Arctic Circle several times over the years to measure the Northern Lights, but there is something really special about seeing the Northern Lights from your garden with the whole family.”

The Met Office said relatively clear skies were forecast for much of the UK, meaning there was a “good chance of visibility”.

A spokesman for the meteorologist said there have been “more space weather events” in recent months, including the Northern Lights, as the sun approaches the peak of its solar cycle.

The auroras, which are most commonly observed over high polar latitudes but can also spread south, are primarily influenced by geomagnetic storms created by activity on the Sun.

The sun has a cycle of about 11 years. The peak of sunspot activity on the sun's surface is called the solar maximum.

Sunspots provide the opportunity for large bursts of energy, called coronal mass ejections, to be released from Earth, which can lead to the visibility of the aurora.

Auroras occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere around the magnetic poles. When they collide, light is emitted in different wavelengths, creating colorful lights in the sky.