With sun particles swirling around the night sky at around five times their normal speed, the auroras on show were among the most dazzling in years.

As a gas cloud hit the Earth’s magnetic fields, the particles reached speeds of 2,000 kilometres per second.

Elegant northern lights have been illuminating the skies over Norway for the past week, but Tuesday’s solar storm was the strongest in more than six years.

After eleven years of relative calm, the sun has become more active over the last two years. This has resulted in frequent flares of powerful intensity.