Northern lights provide spectacular show over P.E.I.

CBC
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The lighthouse at Covehead is illuminated under the northern lights. More than 100 people were in the area around midnight to see the spectacle. (Beth Johnston - image credit)
The lighthouse at Covehead is illuminated under the northern lights. More than 100 people were in the area around midnight to see the spectacle. (Beth Johnston - image credit)

Many on P.E.I. flocked to the beach on Friday, but not to go swimming or lie in the sand.

It was around midnight, and they were there to see one of the most vivid displays of light caused by the aurora borealis in decades.

According to the Canadian Space Agency, the northern lights, or aurora borealis, occur when the sun blasts charged particles into space, which is called the solar wind. Earth's magnetic field forms an invisible shield that redirects the solar wind around our planet.

"As Earth's magnetic field protects us from the solar wind, the magnetic field lines are dragged and stretched," the agency says on its website.

"They snap back like an elastic band, launching charged particles down towards Earth's surface along the magnetic field lines Auroras occur when these charged particles launched along Earth's magnetic field collide with gases in Earth's upper atmosphere."

They are best viewed away from city lights, where most of these photos were taken.

Northern Lights at Lakeside Beach.
Northern Lights at Lakeside Beach.

Trysta MacPhee and her twin sister Trynda White watched the northern lights at Lakeside Beach. (Trysta MacPhee)

Northern lights at Brackley Beach.
Northern lights at Brackley Beach.

The northern lights looked ominous framed in dark trees branches over Brackley Beach. (Jess Davis)

Blasts of pink and purple light rain down on Lakeside Beach around midnight.
Blasts of pink and purple light rain down on Lakeside Beach around midnight.

Blasts of pink and purple light rain down on Lakeside Beach around midnight. (Emma Gamble)

The sky was bright over MacKenzie's Brook, between North Rustico and Cavendish, at around 1:30 a.m.
The sky was bright over MacKenzie's Brook, between North Rustico and Cavendish, at around 1:30 a.m.

The sky was bright between North Rustico and Cavendish at around 1:30 a.m. (Nicola MacLeod/CBC)

The view from the Vernon Bridge on the eastern side of P.E.I. (Carolyn Ryan/CBC)

Northern lights over a house.
Northern lights over a house.

The northern lights could be seen even within the city limits of Charlottetown. (Jay Scotland/CBC)