A stargazer was dazzled after spotting the Northern Lights in the skies above Brighton.

Michael Harris captured the celestial spectacle while taking pictures from Devil’s Dyke on the outskirts of the city.

The display, also known as the Aurora Borealis, is a rare sight in the UK, and especially so in southern England.

Michael said: “It was a bit of a mad dash on Monday night to capture the aurora before the clouds engulfed the entire night sky, but I just about managed to get the last moments of activity before it disappeared.

“If you look closely, as well as the aurora, you can also see a hint of the thinner part of the Milky Way.”

A minor enhancement of the auroral oval - the range of the polar lights - is responsible for the display being visible so far south this week.

Professor Dan Pollacco, department of physics at the University of Warwick, said: “To predict exactly where you can see the Northern Lights is difficult as conditions can change quickly.

“However, one thing is for sure, and that is that you are unlikely to see them from a brightly lit city environment - you need to go somewhere dark and look towards the northern horizon.

“You would preferably be in the countryside away from street lights and, of course, it also needs to be clear.”

READ MORE: ​Stargazer snaps out-of-this-world comet in skies above Brighton

The Northern Lights are caused by the interaction of particles coming for the sun, the solar wind, with the Earth’s atmosphere - channelled to the polar regions by the Earth’s magnetic field.

Normally seen near the poles of both the northern and southern hemispheres, the aurora has fascinated, frightened and inspired people for centuries.

The Northern Lights are often seen in dazzling colour in the night sky, caused by different gases giving off different colours when heated.

Pink hues, as spotted by Michael, are caused by nitrogen gas, while green colours are the result of oxygen being heated up in the atmosphere.

Although the best places to see the aurora are concentrated around the polar regions, they have often been seen in the UK, sometimes as far south as Cornwall and Kent.