Some lucky Scots were treated to a "spectacular" Northern Lights display on Sunday night. 

The dark skies in the country highlands were lit up by dancing lights, as a spike in geomagnetic activity, which is associated with the phenomenon, was registered around midnight.

Auroras are the the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere often caused by solar wind, with the Met Office reporting that the geomagnetic activity was "stormy" on September 4.

One photographer, Cat Perkinton, captured a fireball meteor streaking through the aurora borealis near Kentallan. 

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She said the meteor was spotted just after 11.30am. 

"This huge meteor scored the skies. I took a 14 second exposure which didn't capture the final burn out of the meteor," Ms Perkinton said. 

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One social media user in the Outer Hebrides, described it as "so far the longest and most spectacular display of the Northern Lights".

 

VisitScotland explains that the spectacle is named after Aurora (the Roman goddess of dawn) and Boreas (the Greek name for north wind), and is caused by charged particles accelerated into the Earth's upper atmosphere along magnetic field lines.

The energy to drive the display is provided by the sun, in the form of a 'solar wind'. The sun may be millions and millions of miles away, but it is the reason we see the extraordinary sight.