Skywatchers in Canada and UK witness breathtaking views of Northern Lights - see pics

Absolutely stunning colours were spread across the skies when particles were hurled into Earth's atmosphere from the sun over the last weekend. 

Late Sunday (August 7) and early Monday (August 8), beautiful northern lights were visible across the northern high latitudes of our planet Earth. 

As we all know, the Sun sometimes sends solar storms, that affect the entire Solar System, including Earth as the storms reach our atmosphere. 

When it happens, mind-blowing auroras are created when these solar storms collide with the magnetic field of Earth. 

(Image credit: dartanner)

Stargazers in Canada and the United Kingdom witnessed those beautiful auroras, which were produced after charged particles blasted from the Sun and interacted with Earth's upper atmosphere. 

(Image credit: AntarcticaNZ/Kyle McQuilkan)

Apart from the auroras, shimmers of purple and green on the horizon were created by the same storm thousands of kilometres away in Manitoba, Canada. After witnessing it, Deb Maluk tweeted: "Amazing colors and structures." 

Gary Pearson, a photographer near the northeastern coast of Britain, tweeted: "Great to have another visit from the northern lights, a.k.a. Aurora Borealis here at Brancaster Staithe in North Norfolk early this morning." 

(Image credit: GPearsonJPEGs) 

The northern lights or the aurora borealis are the natural light display in Earth's sky. They are predominantly seen in high-latitude regions and are commonly known as polar lights. 

This fairytale phenomenon occurs when the energised particles from the Sun are slammed into Earth's upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 million mph. When it happens, our planet's magnetic field protects us from it and also redirects the particles toward the poles. The process leads to a cinematic atmospheric phenomenon, that is called aurora borealis. 

(Image credit: @GPearsonJPEGs)