Where you can spot Northern Lights ‘with the naked eye’ in the UK tonight

There’s a good chance the Northern Lights will make an appearance in the UK tonight.

The aurora borealis is usually only visible in the auroral oval – a ring of light that encircles Iceland, Canada, Alaska and the polar caps.

But the phenomenon can be seen above British skies when certain space weather happens, such as gigantic solar eruptions slapping Earth.

One of these bursts, called a coronal mass ejection, hit the planet yesterday, giving Britons a higher than usual chance of seeing the lights.

AuroraWatch UK has so far issued five red alerts for the Northern Lights today, meaning it is ‘likely that aurora will be visible by eye and camera from anywhere in the UK’.

An amber alert, issued at around 9pm, says that the ribbons of blue, pink and green will be ‘visible by eye from Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland’.

Space forecasters from the Met Office said solar winds remain ‘very strong and turbulent’ but will begin to ‘wane’ from tomorrow.

They added: ‘While aurora sightings are possible for the northern half of the UK at first, these chances fall sharply with time.’

So have your camera ready and eyes to the sky tonight if you want to catch the aurora borealis in action.

People in England, Wales and Scotland were treated to the neon lights show yesterday.

What are the Northern Lights?

The Earth has an invisible force field called a magnetic field, which protects it from all sorts of space junk, such as particles from the Sun.

When these particles, made of solar plasma, hit the magnetic field and mingle with other particles in our atmosphere, they begin to glow different colours.

The peak Aurora season in the UK is from September to mid-March, but the solar phenomenon can light up the sky occasionally in the summer too.

The ideal areas for aurora spotting are around the Arctic Circle in Lapland, Iceland, Canada and Alaska.

However, when geomagnetic activity is intense enough, the auroral zones broaden and spread south toward the equator.

The Northern Hemisphere has been seeing the lights far more than usual in recent months because the Sun is in a ‘solar maximum’, the peak of its 11-year cycle, experts previously told Metro.

During this time, the Sun coughs up more coronal mass ejections than normal, which travel 1,000 miles per second and take a day to reach us.

This causes geomagnetic storms that affect power grids and, far more harmlessly, increase the chance of the northern lights.

Where is the best place to see the Northern Lights?

If the aurora is forecast in your area, the ideal place for stargazing will be at a rural spot away from light pollution. Use light pollution maps like this to find the darkest area near you.

North-facing coastlines and elevated areas are also ideal.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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