Exact location and time Brits can see Northern Lights again TONIGHT thanks to geomagnetic storm
THIS is the exact time and location Brits can see the Northern Lights again tonight thanks to a geomagnetic storm.
The Northern Lights might be visible across parts of the UK again tonight after the rare phenomenon was spotted over the weekend.
Also known as aurora borealis, the bands of pink and green light were seen across the UK and in parts of Europe.
An “extreme” geomagnetic storm caused them to be more visible, US government experts said.
Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna said he expects “another injection of energy from the sun in the next few hours”.
This means the lights might be visible for some areas of the country again tonight.
Marco said: “There’s a higher chance of seeing it if you’re in the north of the UK again.
“In places like Scotland, Northern Ireland and areas in northern England – it’s also very dependent on the cloud cover.
“There have been thundery showers across the north today as well so that might hamper things slightly.
“The best chance you have of seeing the lights is if you are in an area in the north of the UK with a clear sky.”
Mr Petagna added that the aurora might be visible in southern parts of the UK.
But it would likely only be seen through a good camera, rather than with the naked eye.
The G5 geomagnetic storm, which is considered extreme and the strongest level of solar storm, hit Earth on Thursday.
The cause of this storm was a “large, complex” sunspot cluster, 17 times the diameter of the Earth.
The aurora borealis was most visible on Friday night, when there were sightings “from top to tail across the country”.
The last storm with a G5 rating hit Earth more than 20 years ago in October 2003.
It caused power outages in Sweden, Professor Carole Haswell told the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme yesterday.
Prof Haswell said: “A lot of the satellites communicate using radio signals.
“All of these charged particles speeding around disrupt radio signals, particularly GPS which is used by planes.
“It can cause navigation problems, it can cause outages with satellites, it can bring down power systems.
“The last big G5 storm caused a power outage in Sweden and I haven’t heard of anything happening this time yet.
“Hopefully people have designed in sort of redundancies into their systems so that they can actually weather this sort of space weather.”
Prof Haswell also revealed how different colours within the aurora are formed.
She said: “Green comes from oxygen which is about 80 to 250 miles above the earth’s surface.
“The purple, blue and pink comes from nitrogen and when you get a very strong aurora sometimes you see a sort of scarlet red.
“That comes from oxygen which is higher in the earth’s atmosphere, at an altitude of about 180 miles.”
Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.
In the northern hemisphere, most of this activity takes place within a band known as the aurora oval between 60 and 75 degrees north.
When activity is strong, this expands to cover a greater area – which explains why displays can be occasionally seen as far south as the UK.
What are the Northern Lights?
Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.
In the northern hemisphere, most of this activity takes place within a band known as the aurora oval, covering latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees.
When activity is strong, this expands to cover a greater area – which explains why displays can be occasionally seen as far south as the UK.
The visibility of the Northern Lights was increased on Friday because of an “extreme” geomagnetic storm, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The phenomenon appears as beautiful dancing green and purple ribbons of light that have captivated people for millennia.