The night skies over Ryedale were lit up with an amazing Northern Lights display last night – and Gazette readers were there to capture the show.

It was part of an amazing night which saw the lights visible across the whole country, from Cambridge to Liverpool – and even across the Irish sea in Dublin.

Among the most spectacular images in our region was one captured by Jay Commins at Garrowby Hill.

"Incredible colours from the top of Garrowby Hill," he said. "Nature is magnificent!"

You couldn't see much with the naked eye, he said. "But when you point your phone up…"

%image('Jay Commins' image of the Northern Lights at Garrowby Hill (Image: Jay Commins)', type="article-full", id="Jay Commins' image of the Northern Lights at Garrowby Hill (Image: Jay Commins)", alt="Jay Commins' image of the Northern Lights at Garrowby Hill (Image: Jay Commins)")%image('18069157', type="article-full", id="Jay Commins' image of the Northern Lights at Garrowby Hill (Image: Jay Commins)", alt="Jay Commins' image of the Northern Lights at Garrowby Hill (Image: Jay Commins)")Jay Commins' image of the Northern Lights at Garrowby Hill (Image: Jay Commins)

%image('18069151', type="article-full", id="Nick Fletcher took this photo over Malton", alt="Nick Fletcher took this photo over Malton")Nick Fletcher took this photo over Malton

%image('18069050', type="article-full", alt="Carl Render took this amazing photo over Malton")

Carl Render took this amazing photo over Malton.

%image('18069111', type="article-full", id="Toby White's photo of the Northern Lights over Kirkbymoorside", alt="Toby White's photo of the Northern Lights over Kirkbymoorside")Toby White's photo of the Northern Lights over Kirkbymoorside

%image('18068171', type="article-full", id="Charles Hopkinson took this photo when out with his dog ", alt="Charles Hopkinson took this photo when out with his dog ")Charles Hopkinson took this photo when out with his dog 

%image('18068217', type="article-full", id="Northern lights over the Bees and Friends Garden at Woldies, Wintringham on Friday night. ", alt="Northern lights over the Bees and Friends Garden at Woldies, Wintringham on Friday night. ")Northern lights over the Bees and Friends Garden at Woldies, Wintringham on Friday night. 

Northern Lights displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere around the magnetic poles.

In the northern hemisphere, most of this activity takes place in the far north, within a band known as the ‘aurora oval’ covering latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees.

When activity is strong, however, this expands to cover a greater area - which explains why displays can be occasionally seen as far south as the UK.

The visibility of the Northern Lights was increased on Friday because of an 'extreme' geomagnetic storm, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The NOAA said the G5 geomagnetic storm, which is considered extreme and is the strongest level of geomagnetic storm, hit earth on Thursday and could affect communications, GPS and power grids.

The cause of this storm was a 'large, complex' sunspot cluster.

Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said there was a chance the conditions which led to the northern lights appearing in the skies above York last night might continue tonight – so if you missed them last night it might be worth keeping an eye out again tonight.

Here are some more images from our region: