BIZARRE solar lights could be seen across Ryedale as magnetic forces lit up the sky.

For about two hours from 10pm to midnight on Tuesday, August 19 a collection of bright spots, described by one onlooker as "small bright hazy clouds," could be seen across Ryedale,moving in a circle for about 20 seconds before disappearing and then reappearing again a few minutes later.

Graham Shail, who spotted the lights from his home in Normanby, said that he had never seen anything like it before.

"It was just so unusual and something I have never seen before and I doubt I will again," he said.

"It was like a Northern Lights type phenomena and it was pretty eerie really."

After driving to try and get a closer look, Graham said that a graph showing the magnetometer measurements at Dombas, Norway, which predicts and detects how the Northern Lights behave, showed a spike in activity at the same time the lights were seen across Ryedale.

The magnetometer uses solar wind data along with data from other worldwide magnetometers to predict how the Northern Lights will act up to one hour in advance as well as where activity takes place.