Britons stunned by the Northern Lights as far south as Cornwall, with more to come

Britain was blessed with a dazzling display of the Aurora Borealis last night, reaching as far south as Cornwall.

Also known as the Northern Lights, this spectacle is usually seen in countries and areas closer to the magnetic North Pole.

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But from time to time, folks can take in bucket-list views further south.

Pictures flooded social media last night as people rushed to capture the Northern Lights on camera.

There were also plenty of messages from people who missed them.

But luckily there will be more Northern Lights shows to come that will be even brighter than last night’s.

More displays are coming

It is expected that there will be a large increase in the number of Northern Lights sightings from this year until 2025.

This is because we are entering the Sun’s solar maximum – when solar activity peaks during the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle.

During this time the sun produces ‘dramatically more’ aurora displays, explains Darren Baskill, lecturer in physics and astronomy at the University of Sussex.

The next peak was predicted for July 2025.

However, the Solar Maximum will arrive sooner than expected, according to NASA scientist Robert Leamon and Scott McIntosh, deputy director of the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

They say the peak of the cycle will occur a year earlier, in mid-to-late 2024.

This means the best time of the decade to check the Northern Lights off your bucket list is just around the corner.

Sunspots – which produce solar flares that produce Northern Lights – will become twice as likely during solar maximum, which lasts between three and five years.

During that time, the displays will appear more vibrant with red, pink and purple hues typically rarer than the green waves.

Sunspots, the black areas on the Sun’s surface, are particularly active areas that can ‘burp’ the solar wind towards Earth.

When these streams of highly charged particles collide with Earth’s magnetic field, they cause the upper atmosphere to glow.

This heightened era of activity is why humans are blessed with such an epic spectacle.