A DELAYED flight meant a jaw-dropping display of the northern lights for an Essex photographer.

Paul Botten, 50, found his journey home from Norway delayed on Thursday (23 Feb), but the resulting night flight meant a stunning show of aurora.

He managed to snap the vibrant colours on his iPhone at 30,000ft.

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Paul, from Leigh, explains: "I work in the travel industry as a lead guide on various weather atmospheric-related holidays, from chasing tornadoes to sighting aurora borealis.

Echo: Stunning - The view from the planeStunning - The view from the plane (Image: Paul Botten)

"I was testing the capabilities of the IPhone 13 Max against DSLR cameras and was amazed to see the results, especially when unexpectedly seeing them on a blizzard-related delay out from Tromso.

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"We were supposed to take off at 4pm and the delay meant it was darkness when we got through the clouds and the aurora was already very active even at 6:30pm, with sunset visible way off to the west that you can see in the pictures.

Echo: Paul BottenPaul Botten (Image: Paul Botten)

"The captain turned off the lights and people ended up taking pictures for the next 15 minutes on their phones.

"The delay meant an overnight stay in Oslo, as we missed our connecting flight to Heathrow, but most of the plane were happy in a strange way as the free light show was the pay off.

"It was a magical event above Norway."

Echo: Once in a lifetime view Once in a lifetime view (Image: Paul Botten)

An aurora is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions around the Arctic and Antarctic.

Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky.

They are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by the solar wind.