Aurora shines across the UK in first display of 2025

The first day of 2025 has brought a stunning display of the Northern Lights across the UK.

From northern Scotland to South Wales, the bright colours of the aurora were visible after a strong solar storm.

With activity on the Sun recently reaching a peak, there should be more opportunities to catch the aurora throughout 2025.

As always, BBC Weather Watchers were out in force last night to send us their pictures.

Solar activity increased on New Year's Eve with a geomagnetic storm sending bursts of energy - charged particles - directed towards Earth.

These eventually entered our atmosphere on Wednesday evening where interactions with oxygen and nitrogen create the vivid colours of the aurora.

Oxygen atoms glow green - the colour most often seen in the Northern Lights.

Nitrogen atoms emit purple, pink and red.

With it being a particularly strong geomagnetic storm, the Northern Lights travel further from the poles to lower latitudes across the UK.

The Met Office Space Weather Centre forecasts suggest that with another eruption of charged particles expected to reach Earth over the weekend, there'll be another opportunity to see the Northern Lights.

Cloud permitting of course.