Northern Lights captured across Essex's night skies

Skies above the county were illuminated by the utterly captivating Northern Lights on Friday and Saturday evening in what for many proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

The Northern Lights, also known as an aurora borealis, could be seen throughout the UK after one of the strongest geomagnetic storms recorded in years hit the Earth.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) even issued a rare solar storm warning, as storms of this scale can potentially impact our infrastructure, including satellites and the power grid. 

Stunning - The capturing Northern Lights in Brightlingsea (Image: Stephen Johnson)

Storms like these increase the chances of us catching a glimpse of the mesmerising lights, and thankfully Camera Club members were on hand to capture the beauty of this rare event in all its glory. 

The Northern Lights appear as swirling and bright curtains of colour, stretching across the night sky, with colours of green, purple, pink and scarlet illuminating the darkness.

They are caused by charged particles from the sun, which travel towards Earth, hitting gases in the planet's atmosphere and energising them. 

Stunning - Hadleigh Castle's silhouette made a fantastic image (Image: Dawid Lawdzin)

The different colours come from the different gases in the atmosphere, with most commonly oxygen, which appears green, and nitrogen, which becomes visible through purple, blue and pink. 

Lights - Southend saw purple and pink skies last night (Image: Alexandra Earle)

Red - The Northern Lights turned the sky at Hoppit Mead red (Image: Matt Ager)

Sky - The Northern Lights over Canewdon Church last night (Image: Luke Dokic)

Here are some of the best images of the Northern Lights' rare appearance across the county, including above the skies of Mistley, Colchester, Dedham, Brightlingsea, Tendring, Hadleigh, Epping and more.