It is a jaw-dropping natural phenomenon that puts on a spectacular show across the Arctic Circle and sometimes beyond.
But tonight the Northern Lights won’t just creep as far south as Scotland — forecasters say they could even be visible above Birmingham and other parts of the Midlands.
That’s because the sun has unleashed an enormous coronal mass ejection (CME) which is set to hit the Earth this weekend, sparking a geomagnetic storm between Saturday and Sunday.
This will fling charged particles into our planet which will interact with oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere to emit green and red colours over our poles.
The Met Office‘s Space Weather arm said Aurora borealis would likely be visible across parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and even ‘as far south as central England and Wales’ if skies are clear.
Beauty: The spectacular natural phenomenon that is the Northern Lights could be visible as far south as Scotland (pictured), central England, Wales and parts of Northern Ireland tonight
The good news for most UK observers is that cloud cover tonight should be almost non-existent, with the exception of over Northern Ireland.
The best way to see the Northern Lights will be to find a dark place away from street lights and ideally a cloud-free sky, according to the British Geological Survey.
Experts say skywatchers should generally look to the north, although the spectacular sight can be overhead or elsewhere.
Looking up at around midnight provides the best chance to spot it, they add.
Although the Northern Lights are predominantly seen in high-latitude regions, CMEs caused by intense solar activity can make it possible to spot the spectacle much further south.
In a statement, the Met Office’s Space Weather arm detailed how the two CMEs may affect the Earth.
‘From later on 11th Nov until 12th Nov, Minor or Moderate geomagnetic storming is expected to develop due to the arrival of a coronal mass ejection, with a chance of Strong geomagnetic storming occurring,’ it said.
‘There is lower confidence regarding the timing of the peak geomagnetic activity, but with clear skies aurora is likely to be visible overhead across parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and similar latitudes during the night of the 11th, with sightings possible as far south as central England and Wales.’
Although our sun gives us life, it also frequently ‘sneezes’, ejecting billions of tonnes of hot plasma into space in colossal blobs of matter threaded with magnetic fields — in other words, CMEs.
It emits gigantic flares, bursts of powerful electromagnetic radiation — X-rays, gamma rays and radio bursts — accompanied by streams of highly energetic particles.
CMEs usually take around 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth.
The Met Office’s Space Weather arm said Aurora borealis would likely be visible across parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and even ‘as far south as central England and Wales’ if skies are clear
Although the Northern Lights are predominantly seen in high-latitude regions, CMEs caused by intense solar activity can make it possible to spot the spectacle much further south
In a statement on X, the Met Office’s Space Weather arm detailed how the two CMEs may affect the Earth
The aurora appears when atoms in Earth’s high-altitude atmosphere collide with energetic charged particles from the sun, creating breathtaking colours of green with a hint of pink, red and violet.
It is more often seen in winter when the nights are cold, long and dark.
When a solar storm heads our way, some of the energy and small particles can travel down the magnetic field lines at the north and south poles into Earth’s atmosphere.
There, the particles interact with gases in our atmosphere resulting in beautiful displays of light in the sky — the aurora, or Northern Lights. Oxygen gives off green and red light, while nitrogen glows blue and purple.
The aurora can be seen near the poles of both the northern and southern hemispheres.
In the north the display is known as the aurora borealis, and in the south it is called the aurora australis.
Clear skies: The good news for most UK observers is that cloud cover tonight should be almost non-existent, with the exception of over Northern Ireland
The aurora appears when atoms in Earth’s high-altitude atmosphere collide with energetic charged particles from the sun, creating breathtaking colours of green with a hint of pink, red and violet. Pictured is Stonehenge illuminated by the Northern Lights in February this year
SOLAR STORMS PRESENT A CLEAR DANGER TO ASTRONAUTS AND CAN DAMAGE SATELLITES
Solar storms, or solar activity, can be divided into four main components that can have impacts on Earth:
- Solar flares: A large explosion in the sun’s atmosphere. These flares are made of photons that travel out directly from the flare site. Solar flares impact Earth only when they occur on the side of the sun facing Earth.
- Coronal Mass Ejections (CME’s): Large clouds of plasma and magnetic field that erupt from the sun. These clouds can erupt in any direction, and then continue on in that direction, plowing through solar wind. These clouds only cause impacts to Earth when they’re aimed at Earth.
- High-speed solar wind streams: These come from coronal holes on the sun, which form anywhere on the sun and usually only when they are closer to the solar equator do the winds impact Earth.
- Solar energetic particles: High-energy charged particles thought to be released primarily by shocks formed at the front of coronal mass ejections and solar flares. When a CME cloud plows through solar wind, solar energetic particles can be produced and because they are charged, they follow the magnetic field lines between the Sun and Earth. Only charged particles that follow magnetic field lines that intersect Earth will have an impact.
While these may seem dangerous, astronauts are not in immediate danger of these phenomena because of the relatively low orbit of manned missions.
However, they do have to be concerned about cumulative exposure during space walks.
This photo shows the sun’s coronal holes in an x-ray image. The outer solar atmosphere, the corona, is structured by strong magnetic fields, which when closed can cause the atmosphere to suddenly and violently release bubbles or tongues of gas and magnetic fields called coronal mass ejections
The damage caused by solar storms
Solar flares can damage satellites and have an enormous financial cost.
The charged particles can also threaten airlines by disturbing Earth’s magnetic field.
Very large flares can even create currents within electricity grids and knock out energy supplies.
When Coronal Mass Ejections strike Earth they cause geomagnetic storms and enhanced aurora.
They can disrupt radio waves, GPS coordinates and overload electrical systems.
A large influx of energy could flow into high voltage power grids and permanently damage transformers.
This could shut off businesses and homes around the world.
