AN AMATEUR photographer from Oxenhope snapped this spectacular picture of the Northern Lights from outside his home at the weekend.

Matthew Heaton took the photo at 9.40pm on Sunday night after receiving an alert via an app on his Smart Phone warning him the lights were visible.

Mr Heaton, 35, has lived at Cock Hill on the moors above Oxenhope all his life, and has previously taken many other photos of this phenomenon.

The aurora is caused by particles from the solar wind interacting with air molecules in the earth's atmosphere.

Mr Heaton, who is director of a Halifax-based plastics company, said he took his latest photo just outside his home immediately after being alerted.

"It was a wide-angle, long-exposure shot," he added. "The lights were gone within 15 minutes of me going outside.

"I have been able to take better shots than this before. I usually manage to see the Northern Lights about five times a year. The best time is from late summer to early spring, whenever the sky is clear and dark and when we're getting blasted by the solar wind.

"You only tend to hear about it in the mainstream media when there's a really big display going on, but I find it fascinating.

"I saw the lights from Norway last year, where of course it's even more spectacular. I'm going on another trip there next year."