Damn – did you open up Facebook this morning and realise you missed the Northern Lights again?
Last night, there was a beautiful show of the aurora borealis in Scotland, northern England and the Midlands, and as far south as West Cork in Ireland.
It’s been almost a year since we last got star-struck by a major display of the Northern Lights, with impressive visibility even in London in October, as well as from the International Space Station, like in the mesmerising video below.
This is thought to have been during the peak of the solar maximum, when our star was at its most ferocious and explosive.
Since then, things have been more muted on the aurora front, although the sun is still very active in its 11-year cycle.
What time can you see the Northern Lights tonight?
It’s still possible to see the lights on Tuesday night into Wednesday, even though the best of it was yesterday.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts the strongest effect will be from around midnight to 3am.
You may see them all night while it’s dark enough, as the coronal mass ejection which sent particles our way left the Sun late on Saturday, and it’s this which is still causing the phenomenon.
Where the Northern Lights will be visible
As the name implies, the further north you are, the better luck you’re likely to have.
This time, more southern locations like London, Essex, Norfolk, Bristol, Suffolk, and Norwich are probably not going to see much.
Places in northern England and Scotland, and potentially the Midlands, are more likely to see a display.
But even if you don’t spot anything with the naked eye, try looking through a camera, even if it’s just on your phone, as this can make the lights more obvious.
The science behind the Northern Lights
It all starts with the sun, when it burps out a huge cloud of charged particles and magnetic energy into space.
This can travel millions of kilometres per hour, and if it heads towards Earth, it can slam into our own magnetic field and stir up a geomagnetic storm.
The disturbance can be so great that we see it in the skies, Dr Steph Yardley, STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow and Vice Chancellor Fellow at Northumbria University, tells Metro.
‘The colours depend on the gas involved: oxygen creates green and red, while nitrogen produces purples and blues. Green is the most common, but the aurora can glow in many shades,’ she says.
While it’s beautiful, it can be so strong that it disrupts electronic and radio systems we rely on, like satellite communications, GPS, and power grids,’ explains Dr Andy Smith, a research fellow at Northumbria University.
This is because the swathes of colour in the sky are in the ionosphere, a turbulent layer of the atmosphere where radio waves bounce off of.
‘These events can have severe impacts on our modern society. Famously Quebec in Canada suffered a blackout in 1989 that was caused by the aurora!’ Dr Smith tells Metro.
‘Not ideal if you’re planting a large field of crops or drilling oil wells.
‘Solar storms are also related to increased radiation in near-Earth space, which poses a risk to satellites in certain regions and can lead to failure or reduced lifetimes. Increased radiation risks can also mean flights are diverted away from the poles where the risks are higher.’
Is there a Northern Lights UK tracker?
There are several websites that can track the Northern Lights across the UK.
AuroraWatch UK includes submissions from the public, updating with whether they can see anything or not.
The Met Office also gives forecasts for space weather as well as your regular old rain and sunny spells, and they published a blog post yesterday about the upcoming aurora.
For a live map showing forecasts for both the Northern and Southern lights with the aurora overlaid on countries, it will be visible, including the UK. Try the NOAA website, which has maps focused on both poles.
Dr Smith says that monitoring the Northern Lights involves keeping an eye on any solar goo flung our way – how fast it’s travelling can help space forecasters tell where the lights may shine.
‘This is a really tricky prediction to make, and an active area of research,’ he adds.
‘Despite how it may seem, we don’t have many measurements of either the aurora itself (the last mission to look at the whole aurora at once finished in 2002!), the conditions in near-Earth space, or the incoming solar storms.’
What is the weather like tonight?
Unfortunately, tonight will be fairly cloudy, which will make it harder to see the Northern Lights even if they do appear.
Scotland and northern England, which already had a better chance, are likely to have the clearest skies; however, another point in their favour.
A waxing gibbous moon, which means it is between a half and a full moon, could disrupt clear views of the aurora, particularly in areas with additional light pollution.
For those in more marginal locations, further south or in urban areas, light pollution will play a significant role in determining whether the aurora can be seen.
Krista Hammond, Met Office space weather manager, said: ‘Forecasts can change rapidly, so we encourage the public to stay updated with the latest information.’
If you missed the lights and can’t spot them tonight, though, fear not. You can still catch this Sunday’s Blood Moon, when there will be a full lunar eclipse in the UK for the first time in three years. And it tends to be easier to spot the Moon, as it’s quite big and stays in one place.
MORE: People who can ‘hear the Northern Lights’ reveal what they sound like
MORE: I spent 5 days on a Northern Lights cruise — every hellish obstacle was worth it
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