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Aurora hunters were treated to a display on Monday night when the Northern Lights created a show of "magenta beams".

The Northern Lights are caused by the interaction of the solar wind - a stream of charged particles escaping the Sun - and our planet's magnetic field and atmosphere.

The conditions aligned for photographers to capture the aurora - one of nature's greatest spectacles - from Norfolk.

Weather forecaster Dan Holley used a long exposure on his camera to photograph the lights as seen from Long Stratton, on the A140 south of Norwich.

"A lot of the green colours lower down were washed out by fairly substantial light pollution/haze, but some occasional magenta beams appeared," .

He added that the lights were "not very visible to the naked eye" from his location.

Mr Holley told the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ the display over the UK in March was "much stronger and visible by eye - but never as bright as they appear in photographs".

However, he said Monday's aurora was still very welcome.

"We missed a fairly big event last week due to cloud and rain over the region, so it was nice to have an opportunity last night with clear sky for a time," he said.

"Most of the time this far south you'll need to use a camera with long exposure to bring out the colours, and ideally get away from light pollution - which is why a lot of the photos come from north Norfolk."

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Weather Watcher JonJoe was one of those who was able to make the most of his north Norfolk location at Wells-next-the-Sea to capture an impressive display.

Green and purple lights met each other to light up the sky, with Jon Joe saying he had "waited a long time to see the aurora - it didn't disappoint".

Similarly, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Weather Watcher Zacspeed echoed JonJoe's remarks about the show not disappointing.

He went to seek the lights with his camera at a location near Norwich after receiving an alert.

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