Residents across the Isle of Man were treated to a spectacular display of the northern lights late on Monday night, with the aurora borealis visible across much of the north and west of the island for a number of hours.

The natural light show lit up the skies in stunning shades of green, pink and red.

Images shared on social media showed the aurora clearly visible to the naked eye from locations across the island, including Ballaugh, Kirk Michael and Peel.

Local aurora expert Dave Corkish had earlier alerted islanders to the increased chance of seeing the northern lights, as space weather conditions indicated strong geomagnetic activity.

In simple terms, the northern lights can be explained as the interaction of the solar wind and the earth’s magnetic field.

Solar storms on the sun’s surface produce clouds of electrically charged particles. These particles can travel millions of miles, and some may eventually collide with the Earth.

Most of these particles are deflected away, but some become captured in the Earth’s magnetic field, accelerating down towards the north and south poles into the atmosphere. This is why aurora activity is concentrated at the magnetic poles.

Talking about the best way to see the aurora, Mr Corkish said: ‘When looking on forecasts, which can be checked on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) site, it gives predictions of oncoming solar wind from the sun, and then it is a case of seeing how strong it is expected to be, which is known as the KP Index.

‘The KP Index goes from zero to nine.’

There was optimism that the aurora would be visible once again in the Isle of Man on Tuesday evening, but cloud cover meant that only brief and small sightings were captured.