Stargazers were treated to a dazzling sight when the Northern Lights made an appearance in Kent skies.

While a common spectacle in Iceland, Canada and Scandinavia, the phenomenon - which is also known as Aurora Borealis - is rarely seen this far south.

But Herne Bay resident Jamie Lally was able to capture an image of the colourful display with his camera last night.

"It was amazing to actually get the Aurora this far south," he said.

"I wasn’t expecting to see such vivid red on the back of the camera when I had set it up on the tripod.

"It's the best shot I've ever got of the lights since trying to nab a picture of them properly in the last few years.

"I’m hoping for another go at some point in the near future and hopefully not on such a cold and windy February night."

A Met Office spokesman says the rare sightings of the Aurora Borealis further south in the UK on Sunday night were due to the “strength” of a geomagnetic storm and the “strip of cloudless skies” in southern regions.

The national weather service also stresses that those who missed last night's display might have another chance tonight.

"The Aurora Borealis may be visible as far south as central England tonight where skies remain clear," the spokesman added.

Experts from the Royal Museums Greenwich say the lights are caused by solar storms on the surface of the sun giving out clouds of electrically charged particles which can travel millions of miles and collide with the Earth.

Most particles are deflected away, but some are captured in the Earth’s magnetic field and accelerate towards the north and south poles, colliding with atoms and molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The lights are the product of this collision between atoms and molecules from the Earth’s atmosphere and particles from the sun.

In November last year, strong light displays were witnessed across Scotland.