A woman in Suffolk was left stunned after witnessing what she believed to the Northern Lights on stunning display – however things were not as they seemed.
2024 has certainly been a busy year for Brits, Labour won a UK General Election for the first time in 14 years, England failed once again to win a trophy in international football and, perhaps most importantly, the entire country has been gripped by Northern Lights-mania.
The Northern Lights – or aurora borealis if you’re feeling fancy – are typically only visible in the far north of Europe, providing the countries of Norway and Iceland with significant amounts of tourists every year, whereas in the UK, those famous wiggly green lines are typically confined to the northern edges of Scotland.
But not this year.
Thanks to the sun being at the ‘maximum’ of it’s 11 year solar cycle, geomagnetic activity has been at an all-time high this year, meaning that people have been able to see the lights as far south as London.
However, not every view of the night sky was made equal, which meant that for every stunning photo of the aurora snapped in Sunderland and Wolverhampton, there was also some pretty convincing imposter lights.
This is exactly what happened to 56-year-old Dee Harrison, who couldn’t believe her eyes while driving to work one morning in Suffolk.
While driving towards the village of Bramford in the early hours of the morning, Dee was amazed by the red glow she saw in the sky and stopped to snap a couple of photos and uploaded them to her local Facebook group.
Dee’s Northern Lights were too good to be true, however (Facebook/Dee Harrison)
“Guess it’s an Aurora, not seen one before,” she captioned the image.
However all was not as it seemed as Dee, and several commenters under the post, would later learn that the red glow was actually from LED units used at Suffolk Sweet Tomatoes, which aid with the growth of vegetables.
The catfish left Dee understandably devastated, as she later told the BBC: “I was a bit disappointed because I thought I was up early seeing this aurora and I had it all to myself.
“I have driven that way for over two years and this was the first time I had seen it – it’s funny how I haven’t noticed it before.”
However Dee shouldn’t feel too red-faced about the mix-up as she’s not the only person to be misled by rogue lights, as two students thought they’d stumbled upon a spectacular light show… only to discover it was their local Premier Inn.