Northern lights were seen in the sky over Bulgaria in the first hours of 11 October, said Pencho Markishki, physicist from the Institute of Astronomy of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. “The sky over the Northern horizon was lit up in red, though it was not easy to spot with the naked eye, but could be seen clearly in photographs, even when taken by phone,” he said. Markishki himself photographed the phenomenon from the astronomical observatory in Belogradchik in the early hours of the day.

The Northern lights were visible in regions with less light after the clouds over some parts of the country scattered during the early hours, Pencho Markishki said. Aurora Borealis is a rare phenomenon for Bulgaria, it is typical of the regions close to the Earth’s poles and is the result of geomagnetic storms caused by solar flares.