Social media were awash with pictures of the natural phenomenon, also known as the Aurora Borealis, which lit up the night sky in Sweden on Sunday and Monday.

On Monday evening, the colourful displays of red and green first appeared at around 7pm and then they returned at around midnight, from northern Sweden to Malmö in southern Sweden.

While people in northern Sweden are treated to the Northern Lights on an almost daily basis during the winter months – as long as there’s no cloud cover – catching a glimpse of them in southern Sweden is rare.

Northern Lights are a natural phenomenon and are caused when solar winds clash with the Earth’s atmosphere, creating a green-tinged appearance in the sky. They typically appear in the colder months of the year, when the nights are dark.

Did you take any pictures of the Northern Lights? Send them to [email protected] and we’ll pick the best ones to share with our audience. Please state in the email if it’s OK for us to republish the pictures on The Local and in our social media, and let us know your name so that we can credit you.