Parts of the UK could be in store for a beautiful display of the Northern Lights.

The bright dancing lights, known as the aurora borealis, could be on display in Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland on Friday night.

This is because there have been two large explosions on the Sun and huge amounts of magnetically charged particles have been hurled into space towards Earth.

Known as Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), they can produce many different colours, with green, pink, red, blue and yellow all possible.

The first CME should arrive tonight and the second is likely to arrive later on Friday, with their combined effect increasing the chance of a display.

Often the particles are deflected by the earth's magnetic field, so the best places to witness it are close to the poles where the field is weakest.

The Met Office said it is expecting there to be some cloud and localised fog patches around on Friday night but there should also be some clear skies.

It recommends finding somewhere away from street lights and says the best chance of seeing the aurora will be around midnight.

Earlier this year a rare red aurora was seen in the UK, which is caused by high-altitude oxygen, sometimes as high as 200 miles.