Daze of the week: A glittering gallery of Northern Lights from the past seven days (thanks to biggest solar storms in six years)

Amazing time-lapse video of this week's light show



Over the past week, fantastic displays of the Northern Lights have occurred in Norway, Iceland... and even the UK.

The spectacular shows in the night sky were due to the biggest solar storm in more than six years, which bombarded Earth with radiation.



Here, we present some of the best images taken of the lights, known as the aurora borealis,



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The Northern Lights were captured on camera this week in Southern Iceland

The aurora borealis as seen near the city of Trondheim, Norway on Tuesday

The aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, are seen near the city of Tromsoe, northern Norway, last Tuesday

This amazing image of the lights was taken near Alnwick, Northumberland. They are rarely seen in the UK - and normally appear above Icleland

A breathtaking free light show on the Pennine moorland at the County Durham-North Yorkshire border early last week

Auroras seen from Norway: A spectacular 'coronal mass ejection' following a solar flare caused magnetic storms - but rarely do they form such amazing shapes as this bird-like creation



The northern lights are caused by particles from the sun interacting with our atmosphere - and create spectacular displays of green light

WHAT ARE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS? WHY ARE THEY GREEN?

The Northern Lights are caused by particles from the sun colliding with atoms in the outer reaches of Earth’s atmosphere, 60 to 200 miles up.



These particles stream away from the sun at speeds of about 1million mph after events called 'coronal mass ejections' on the sun's surface, and are drawn to Earth’s northern and southern poles by its magnetic field.



Which atoms the electrons encounter when they hit the Earth – either oxygen or nitrogen – and the altitude at which they meet, determine whether the colours are green, red, blue or purple.



The lights have been seen so far south because the solar explosion that sent out the particles was particularly strong.

The Northern Lights are sometimes seen from northern parts of Scotland but the unusual recent solar activity means the lights have also been visible from as far south as northeast England, a rarity.

Geomagnetic storms cause awesome sights, but they can also bring trouble.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, problems can include current surges in power lines, and interference in the broadcast of radio, TV and telephone signals.



Radiation from last Sunday's flare arrived at Earth an hour later.



NOAA experts said the levels were considered strong but other storms have been more severe.



There are two higher levels of radiation on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's storm scale of ‘severe’ and ‘extreme’, space weather centre physicist Doug Biesecker said.

The recent solar storm was the strongest for radiation since May 2005. The radiation - in the form of protons - came flying out of the sun at 93 million miles per hour.



‘The whole volume of space between here and Jupiter is just filled with protons and you just don't get rid of them like that,’ he said, explaining why the effects stuck around for several days.



Nasa's flight surgeons and solar experts examined the solar flare's expected effects.

Time-lapse video of this week's Northern Lights







The view from Lapland: A human figure stands out against the green sky

Background movement: People chat while the sky goes crazy above them

Vapour trails: The green wisps shoot through the sky of their own accord

Auroras over Norway this week: The activity this week is the strongest since 2005, say space weather experts

The Northern Lights are seen near the town of Lakselv, at the mouth of the Porsanger Fjord, in Northern Norway

The Northern Lights in Donegal in Ireland: The effect is not normally seen so far south

Canada and Norway saw some of the most spectacular activity

Bright lights: This image shows a solar flare erupting on the sun's northeastern hemisphere. The strongest solar storm in more than six years has bombarded Earth

Awesome: Coronal mass ejections propel matter from the sun out of the sun's magnetic field. They can include billions of tons of matter and travel at up to a million miles per hour

They decided that the six astronauts on the International Space Station do not have to do anything to protect themselves from the radiation, spokesman Rob Navias said.



A solar eruption is followed by a one-two-three punch, said Antti Pulkkinen, a physicist at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and Catholic University.



First comes electromagnetic radiation, followed by radiation in the form of protons. Then, finally the coronal mass ejection - that's the plasma from the sun itself - hits.

Into the blue: The green skies continue their dance as dawn breaks

Usually that travels at about 1 or 2 million miles per hour, but this storm was particularly speedy and shot out at 4 million miles per hour, Mr Biesecker said.



Plasma causes much of the noticeable problems on Earth, such as electrical grid outages. In 1989, a solar storm caused a massive blackout in Quebec. It can also pull the Northern Lights further south.









Video: Lights Over Lapland by photographer Chad Blakley