Merry dancers light up the night sky

There was a display of the aurora borealis throughout the hours of darkness last night.

The image, taken by Rousay astronomer John Vetterlein, is a view looking north from Springfield, Rousay at 9.13pm on Thursday night. The bright star low down to the right is Vega, second brightest star in the northern hemisphere.

According to Mr Vetterlein, the features displayed were limited in the main to vertical bands rising to an altitude of around 30 degrees above the northern horizon and large, intense auroral arcs. However, the red colouration in the bands and background were intense at times.

“It should be noted that in visual light only a small sunspot has been visible over the past 48 hours  and activity in other areas of the spectrum have also been relatively low,” said Mr Vetterlein.