Woman thought she saw the northern lights, but it was a tomato plant | UK News

When Dee Harrison looked up at the sky in the early morning hours Wednesday, she was stunned by what she thought was happening. Northern Lights.

The 56-year-old believed he caught them over Bramford, Suffolk, at around 5.15am and was determined to show the rest of the county what he had witnessed.

After putting the show online Facebook Stunning Suffolk group, disappointed people started telling him that the warm glow came from a tomato plant.

Before the announcement, Dee was very excited and posted three photos on the public page with the caption ‘I think this is an aurora never seen before.’

But unfortunately for him, the glow was from Suffolk Sweet Tomatoes’ LED light units used to stimulate the growth of vegetables.

Dee recalled: ‘It was about 5.15am and I was driving… and I could see the sky to my left was red.

‘At first I thought something was on fire but when I parked I could see this dark pink sky; It looked brighter from my phone’s camera, so I thought it was an aurora.

‘But unfortunately it wasn’t, so I was a little disappointed because I thought I woke up early to see this aurora and had it all to myself.

‘I’ve been driving like this for over two years and this was the first time I’d seen this. It’s funny I didn’t notice this before.’

Social media user Adam Cotterell, 34, quickly ruined Dee’s dream and said these were not the northern lights.

He replied to her post and informed her: ‘These are the lights of a local tomato factory.

‘It has full-spectrum lights that shine red into the sky when there is low-lying fog or cloud.

‘I live up the road and have seen him a few times.’

He also gave information BBC: ‘Ever since the tomato plant was there, you could always see a red and pink color in the sky when there was mist or mist in the air.

‘This situation is most common in cold and foggy nights in the winter months, and is not seen much in the summer months because the summer air is dry.

‘But now that we’re entering winter you’ll be seeing more of it due to the damp evening air and low fog.

‘It’s still an incredible sight to see, but it can’t beat the real aurora borealis like in May. It was an incredible night.”

Poor Dee, from Ipswich, was upset by the revelation and posted “apparently it’s not an aurora, sorry” and a “sad” emoji containing tears.

To confirm things, data from AuroraWatch UK showed there was no ‘significant’ northern lights activity in the area on Wednesday morning.

Better luck next time, Dee.

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