Northern Lights shine across Northern Ireland

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The Aurora Borealis - better known as the Northern Lights - has been giving rare and spectacular displays over parts of the UK, from the north of Scotland to as far south as Essex and Gloucestershire.

BBC News website readers photographed the best displays across Northern Ireland.

Northern Lights in PortstewartImage source, PAcemaker press

The aurora, also known as the Northern Lights, was observed at different points with some spectacular photos being captured. Photographic agency Pacemaker took this shot of the display over Portstewart harbour.

Desmond LoughreyImage source, Desmond Loughery

The natural light display appears particularly in high latitude regions - usually in places closer to the north and south magnetic poles than Northern Ireland. Desmond Loughrey took this shot of the lights over Limavady, County Londonderry.

deirdre greggImage source, Deirdre Gregg

The light is caused by the collision of energetic particles streaming out of the sun and colliding with atoms high up in our atmosphere. Photographer Deirdre Gregg took this shot of the display over Dunluce Castle in County Antrim.

DunluceImage source, Martina Gardiner

Martina Gardiner was also at Dunluce Castle on the Antrim coast and captured this colourful image.

ken coxImage source, ken cox

Ken Cox was also out chasing the display at Dunluce, photographing the eerie skies over the Atlantic Ocean.

BeaghmoreImage source, Paul Martin

These ''geomagnetic storms'' may extend towards the Earth's surface and when that happens we see the diffuse glow of the aurora. The lights give photographers like Paul Martin the opportunity to capture the colourful skies over Beaghmore, County Tyrone.

enniskillenImage source, Martin mckenna

Photographer and amateur astronomer Martin McKenna, from Maghera, who often goes searching for the aurora, captured this stunning image of the display also over the Beaghmore stone circles in Cookstown, County Tyrone.

CarnloughImage source, Bernie mcallister

In Carnlough, County Antrim, photographer Bernie McAllister captured a shooting star in the sky with the Northern Lights over the harbour village.

MagilliganImage source, Jim Crawford

Jim Crawford caught the lights shining over Magilligan, County Londonderry.

DonegalImage source, justin maclochlainn

Finally, the MacLochlainn family from Donegal took this family portrait of the lights in the north west.

Figure caption,

Weather presenter Barra Best explains whether we will see the Northern Lights again on Friday

If you have pictures of the Northern Lights, please send them to nipics@bbc.co.uk - See bbc.co.uk/terms for full details.