Fermanagh residents marvelled at the wonders of the Northern Lights when they appeared in Northern Ireland over the weekend.

There was a flurry of phone calls, text messages and social media posts shortly after 11.30pm on Friday night when the skies above Fermanagh turned purple, pink, and green. 

People stood in their gardens with their phones and cameras in the air, many wearing a coat over their pyjamas, or wellies on their feet, as they looked up to the skies in wonder.

Some sky watchers noted the colours of the aurora, remarking on the unusual purple colour as opposed to the green that is traditionally associated with the lights.

According to a Met Office spokesperson: "The Northern Lights occur as a consequence of solar activity and result from collisions of charged particles in the solar wind colliding with molecules in the Earth's upper atmosphere.

"Depending on which gas molecules are hit and where they are in the atmosphere, different amounts of energy are released as different wavelengths of light.

"Oxygen gives off green light when it is hit 60 miles above the Earth, whilst at 100-200 miles, rare, all-red auroras are produced.

"Nitrogen causes the sky to glow blue, yet when higher in the atmosphere, the glow has a purple hue."

These are just a selection of pictures taken by Impartial Reporter readers. Almost 400 pictures were shared on The Impartial Reporter's Facebook page on Friday evening, taken right across Fermanagh as well as further afield.