Reading residents were left speechless last night when a rainbow of colours lit up the sky in the most spectacular Northern Lights sighting.

Readers from across the town took to social media to post their own stunning sightings which were captured in the night sky.

A sighting of the Northern Lights is a rare phenomenon in the UK and relies on a variety of factors lining up. This includes the presence of an “extreme” geomagnetic” storm in parts of Europe.

The NOAA said the G5 geomagnetic storm, which is considered extreme and is the strongest level of geomagnetic storm, hit earth on Thursday and could affect communications, GPS and power grids.

The cause of this storm is a "large, complex" sunspot cluster and is 17 times the diameter of earth, with the last storm with a G5 rating hitting earth in October 2003, causing power outages in Sweden.

In the early hours of May 11, people from across the country, from as far as the Irish coasts, were witness to the band of pink and green in the sky.

After our reporters at the Reading Chronicle spotted the amazing sight in Englefield, we took to social media to see if anyone else had captured the aurora borealis in the sky.

It turns out that hundreds of residents had showcased their sightings on Facebook mere minutes after they appeared.

According to one reader, the phenomenon was hard to spot with the naked eye in some areas and required the use of a camera phone to capture the lights in all their glory.

Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said on Friday there was a good chance for the Northern Lights to be seen.

He said: "Although the shorter nights will limit the visibility window, there's a good chance to see the aurora, particularly on Friday night and especially in Scotland, Ireland and parts of northern England and Wales.

"There could even be visibility further south if you have the right equipment.

"Those conditions could continue on Saturday night but we still have to work out some details on where exactly that will be."