A North East aurora enthusiast has shared his top tips to maximise your chances of seeing the Northern Lights in the region - with the best time of year to catch the breath-taking phenomenon just around the corner. Steven Lomas, who lives in South Shields , runs the Northern Lights Hunters North East Facebook group - which has over 46,000 members and growing. Steven first got into stargazing nine years ago on a trip to Egypt, where he saw the Milky Way in the night sky for the first time, while his love of the Northern Lights was sparked by chance a few years ago when he and his brother were driving along by Souter Lighthouse as the sky overhead turned green.
The spectacular display sparked Steven's "bug" to hunt for the phenomenon - and with this year having been an incredible one for aurora shows due to the current Solar Maximum, in other words the period of greatest solar activity in the sun's 11-year solar cycle, thousands in the North East have also picked up the hobby in recent months. The "once in a generation" display seen across UK skies in May was the biggest Steven has ever witnessed; but the best could still be yet to come. READ MORE: 28 Years Later filming at beauty spot hailed as huge opportunity for Northumberland Keep up to date with all the latest breaking news and top stories from the North East with our free newsletter Steven explained: "These strong displays have lured people into a sense that this has been happening all the time, and we just haven’t bee.