Witnessing a dazzling display of the Northern Lights with vivid sheets of colour dancing across the night sky is a real treat for those lucky enough to be in the right place at just the right time.

But the charged particles hurled into space by our tempestuous Sun - the particles that create the aurora borealis - can also unleash very rare but extremely disruptive events here on Earth.

Electricity supplies, satellites and air travel can all be affected by the most violent solar storms.

Recently 6,000 planes were grounded by Airbus, requiring a software update after one of their planes experienced a "sudden drop in altitude" in October thought to be caused by interference from intense solar radiation.

This kind of disruption is something that scientists and governments are actively researching and planning for.

The UK government publishes The National Risk Register, external - a list of serious hazards that could affect the country at some point in the future.

It catalogues the sorts of nightmare scenarios that give politicians sleepless nights.

Alongside risks such as nuclear incidents, terrorist attacks and outbreaks of disease sits the threat of severe space weather.

A photo of a solar flare on the left side of the Sun hurling charged particles into space

Much of the planning for a severe space weather is based on the Carrington Event of 1859, the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history.