We asked Bishop Monkton's resident astronomer, Chris Higgins, to explain why last night's Northern Lights visible in the village, was so spectacular-

"Through the night of the 10th and 11th of October a huge solar storm, resulting from X class flares thrown from the Sun’s atmosphere, collided with the Earth’s magnetic field. These events are more common during a solar maximum which is almost at its peak now. In our area the storm began around 4pm and it has continued overnight finally settling down about 10am this morning. It was easily visible at 7:30pm when I set off with fellow Monktoners on our Thursday bike ride. We were distracted so much we only managed a short route! The activity at midnight was incredible reaching nearly twice the level of the storm that occurred in May this year. As a result, a moving umbrella of colours easily visible to the eyes covered Bishop Monkton such that cars pulled over at the side of Knaresborough road to witness it. Some of the images around Harvest View and the Village Hall are presented here. We watched it awe for nearly an hour."