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Amateur photographers captured the vibrant colours of the Northern Lights on the Yorkshire coast on Monday night.

It was the second night in a row the spectacular natural phenomenon had been visible following Sunday's display across larges swathes of the UK.

Carpet fitter Alec Scott pointed his camera out of his bedroom window in Scarborough and managed to snap the green and pink waves.

"I knew what I needed to do, and then you just hope for the best," he said.

The hobbyist used a phone app to alert him to the natural phenomenon being at its height and waited for the clouds to part before capturing 20 long-exposure photos.

"You can't see the Northern Lights with your naked eye, you just see a smoky grey cloud, but the [camera] sensor picks them up.

"It's a different shade of the sky. It's like a light, snowy cloud. You know it's there."

Mr Scott said he had seen the lights before but the spectacle had been particularly impressive for the past couple of years and he implored others to try snapping them.

"It can be done with an iPhone on a tripod. Long exposure, 20 or 30 seconds, anyone can do it," he added.

'Lucky few'

���˿��� Yorkshire climate correspondent Paul Hudson said: "The vast majority of our region were again disappointed last night by extensive cloud cover.

"But a lucky few, mainly along the Yorkshire coast, were treated to what still is regarded as one of the most impressive and exciting natural phenomena - the Aurora Borealis - or Northern Lights.

"Under clear skies, it would have been quite the spectacle.

"It's really quite unusual to have such sightings so far south, so unfortunately it may be quite some time before we get the opportunity to see it again."

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