I’m a weather expert – these are the perfect conditions for seeing the Northern Lights… and best UK spots to view them
A WEATHER expert has revealed the perfect conditions for seeing the Northern Lights and the best spots in the UK to view them.
Also known as aurora borealis, the bands of pink and green light were seen across the UK and in parts of Europe last week.
An “extreme” geomagnetic storm made them visible far below the Arctic Circle, US government experts said.
The magical lights produced incredible displays for skygazers across the country including Essex, Suffolk, Edinburgh and Whitley Bay.
But the Northern Lights could light up our skies again as early as next month, according to the Met Office.
Krista Hammond, a space weather expert at the Met Office, said there may even be some smaller mass ejections on their way to Earth with the potential to create more beautiful displays.
The sun is in the most active period of its 11-year cycle, which means we could get another chance to see the Northern lights in the next few weeks.
“The sunspot region, which gave all the solar flares and the coronal mass ejections, is now rotated round to the other side of the sun which isn’t facing the Earth,” Ms Hammond said.
“But in a couple of weeks’ time, that area will start to rotate back around to face the Earth again.”
For a large display to be visible, activity must happen during the night time, and when there are clear skies, she added.
And she also noted where potential aurora displays would be best seen from.
The forecaster added: “There are a couple of mass ejections on their way to Earth.
“They’re a lot less powerful than what we saw last weekend, but they could bring aurora displays across predominantly northern parts of the UK, such as Scotland, Northern Ireland, north of England.
“Just because we’re not seeing aurora across the whole of the UK, it doesn’t mean that we’re not going to see it in some areas.”
However, the Northern Lights are very unlikely to make an appearance this evening.
The Met Office’s space forecast, issued in the early hours of this morning, said: “No significant enhancements to the auroral oval are likely in the coming days.”
This was despite there being a small possibility earlier this week to spot the sights in northern Scotland, due to an increase in solar activity.
The ethereal sight is most frequently visible close to Earth’s magnetic north and south poles.
Aurora borealis appear in the sky when electrically charged particles from the sun travel across space and collide with Earth’s atmosphere.
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 phenomena appears as beautiful dancing green and purple ribbons of light that have captivated people for millennia.
Most of these particles are deflected away, but some become captured in our magnetic field, accelerating towards the north and south poles.
This is why we usually see the lights near the magnetic poles.
Occasionally, however, solar storms are powerful enough to make them visible further away from the poles.
When the sun is at its least active in its 11-year cycle, a period known as “solar minimum”, we observe about one of these ejections a week.
At the current point in the cycle, the “solar maximum”, we see an average of two to three per day.
The term “aurora borealis” was first used in 1619 by Italian astronomer Galielo Galiliei, who named the lights after the Greek god Boreas and the Roman goddess Aurora, who was associated with dawn.
The earliest known sighting of the Northern Lights, however, is thought to be a 30,000-year-old French cave artwork.