PEOPLE were treated to a dazzling display of the Northern Lights in the night sky above Newquay on Monday night.

Crowds watched the phenomenon from various locations including Towan Headland, Pentire Headland, the Huer’s Hut and the Barrowfields.

The lights, also known as Aurora Borealis, splashed vivid red, pink and green colours, which resulted in stunning images being captured.

The lights are the result of solar eruptions sending particles towards Earth and the subsequent interaction of those particles with the Earth's atmosphere.

Meteorologists advise a long exposure camera is used to capture the auroras, as the phenomenon is not always visible with the naked eye.

What used to be a once-in-a-lifetime event for people to see it in the UK – or a bucket list trip to the Arctic circle – has become more common in the last couple of years.

A spokesperson for the Met Office said: “A coronal mass ejection, a large eruption of charged matter from the Sun, left the Sun on Sunday.

“The coronal mass ejection is likely to bring aurora across Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England, and potentially further south.”