The Northern Lights could return this evening, according to the Met Office.
A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is predicted to give the maximum chance of Severe Geomagnetic Storm (G3) conditions in the Northern Hemisphere, including parts of the UK.
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This could result in auroral displays as far away as Northern Ireland, northern England and similar geomagnetic latitudes, although prevented by the near-full moon and limited hours of darkness, the weather agency said.
The Met Office’s space weather forecast says the celestial display is expected to last until midnight.
The best conditions to see the Northern Lights are when the sky It’s dark and there are no clouds.
However, current forecasts show that large parts of the country should expect clouds overnight.
“Ideally, the lights will be best viewed away from any light pollution, in remote areas, facing the northern horizon – north-facing coasts produce some of the best viewing locations,” the Met Office states on its website.
“Predominantly, the Northern Lights are best witnessed in Scotland, Northern England, North Wales and Northern Ireland. However, under severe space weather conditions, the lights can be seen across the UK.”
Space weather expert Dr Tamitha Skov said on social media platform X: “The window for arrival starts early on July 24th.
“The storm is likely to arrive late, due to slow solar wind ‘traffic’ and an additional storm ahead of it.”
She added that geomagnetic conditions will likely reach levels G1 to G2.
It follows a storm in May measured in G5, which is considered extreme and the strongest level of solar storm.
The cause of this storm was a “large and complex” sunspot cluster, 17 times the diameter of Earth.
This caused power disruptions in Sweden, Professor Carole Haswell told the BBC Radio 4 Today program at the time.
Professor Haswell said: “Many satellites communicate using radio signals.
“All these high-speed charged particles disrupt radio signals, especially GPS, which is used by planes.
“It can cause navigation problems, it can cause satellite outages, it can knock out power systems.
“The last big G5 storm caused a power cut in Sweden and I haven’t heard of anything that happened this time.
“We hope that people have designed redundancies into their systems so that they can actually withstand this kind of space weather.”
Professor Haswell also revealed how different colors are formed in the aurora.
She said: “Green comes from oxygen that is about 80 to 250 miles above the Earth’s surface.
“The purple, the blue and the pink it comes from nitrogen and when you have a very strong aurora, sometimes you see a kind of scarlet red.
“This comes from oxygen that is higher in Earth’s atmosphere, at an altitude of about 180 miles.”
Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.
In the Northern Hemisphere, most of this activity occurs within a band known as the aurora oval, between 60 and 75 degrees north.
When activity is strong, it expands to cover a larger area – which explains why displays can occasionally be seen in the far south of the UK.
The last G5-rated storm hit Earth more than 20 years ago, in October 2003.
What are the Northern Lights?
Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.
In the Northern Hemisphere, most of this activity occurs within a band known as the aurora oval, covering latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees.
When activity is strong, it expands to cover a larger area – which explains why displays can occasionally be seen in the far south of the UK.
Visibility of the Northern Lights increased on Friday due to an “extreme” geomagnetic storm, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The phenomenon appears as beautiful dancing ribbons of green and purple light that have captivated people for millennia.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
