Check out the incredible Northern Lights visible above the UK last night

An incredible display of the Northern Lights, or Aurora borealis, was visible across northern Europe, Scandinavia, and Iceland last night.

Slooh Community Observatory broadcast the light show live from Iceland, and put together the highlights in the clip below.

In this view from Iceland, the sky turned an intense green colour, coincidentally on St. Patrick's Day.

Juan Carlos Casado, SLOOH/IAC Expedition

The sky above Pilisszentkereszt - 26 kilometres north of Budapest, Hungary - turned purple.

AP Photo/MTI,Balazs Mohai

The Northern Lights are caused when charged particles from the sun crash into oxygen and nitrogen molecules in our atmosphere.

Solar flares create solar wind and electromagnetic radiation that hits the magnetic field surrounding Earth.

While most of it bounces off, some of the solar wind and radiation slips through and collides with particles in Earth's atmosphere. The energy excites atoms and causes them to give off different colours, like green, blue, or red.

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