United Kingdom Gets A Spectacular View Of The Northern Lights

People in Britain, Ireland, Scotland, and elsewhere are catching a glimpse of the rare but incredible Northern Lights that are usually only seen inside the Arctic Circle, Sky News reports.

The Lights, known as Aurora Borealis, are a natural phenomenon that appears "when atoms in the Earth's high-altitude atmosphere collide with energetic charged particles from the sun," according to BBC.

"Aurora displays usually happen around the North and South poles, so to see them this far south is pretty rare," Mark Thompson, a Norfolk astronomer, told EDP24. "I haven't seen one like that in Norfolk for about 20 years."

Here are some of the photos being shared on Twitter:

"@breakingnewsie: The Northern Lights from Dooey, Co Donegal tonight (Pic: Rita Wilson) pic.twitter.com/cA6bJH5ze5" @daraobriain

- ghosty (@ghosty1879) February 27, 2014

"@itvnews: Spectacular Northern Lights seen across UK http://t.co/BGlhQKEh0f pic.twitter.com/AaBjpJ7V3O" why do I never see this! ??

- Katie Simmons (@katiesimmons1) February 28, 2014

Northern lights & some ruins photographed by Brian Doyle (can anyone ID those ruins?) http://t.co/RI98n0PSBc #aurora pic.twitter.com/njQ1iqWXVN

- Observing Space (@ObservingSpace) February 27, 2014

Brilliant photo of the northern lights tonight over Cummingston, Moray taken by @charmainemcle15 :) pic.twitter.com/ZPBfdndMrn

- Sean Batty (@SeanBattySTV) February 27, 2014