The Northern Lights is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful phenomenon to occur on Earth, commonly only spotted in the Northern hemisphere for the lucky buggers who get to visit beauty spots such as Iceland, Finland and Canada. But now, us Northerners may be able to catch a glimpse of the famous Northern Lights – with sightings reportedly taking place in certain parts of the UK tonight.
Seen across dark skies with no local light pollution, the beautiful aurora borealis could be seen across Scotland and Northern England between 13th and 14th March, as a result of a solar or geomagnetic storm. The beautiful night sky spectacle is caused by a Coronal Mass Ejection, a massive burst of material from the sun which can cause a phenomenon known as a geomagnetic storm, which interferes with the Earth’s magnetic field.
AuroraWatchUK, run by Lancaster University, has issued an “amber alert” for aurora borealis and predicted “minor geomagnetic activity”. The service provided by space physicists has said the Northern Lights are most likely to be seen between 10pm and midnight because it’s during this period that substorms – the processes behind the lights – are likely to peak.
As always with aurora borealis, it’s not guaranteed that the lights will appear, and the cloud cover could put a spanner in the works, Scotland is still the best position in the UK to see the Northern Lights, due to its high latitude. The Met Office has predicted that tonight will be “dry with some clear spells during the evening, perhaps leading to a frost in rural spots as winds ease. Clouds increasing with a freshening southerly breeze later in the night. Minimum temperature 2 °C” meaning stargazers may need to keep their fingers crossed.