Stunning displays of the Northern lights have been seen right across the UK, coinciding for the second night in a row with the Perseid meteor shower. Skies as far south as Cornwall were lit up by the auroral display.
The Northern Lights – or aurora borealis – has made regular appearances in the UK over the last few months but it takes a particularly strong geomagnetic storm for it to be visible in southern England.
With enhanced solar activity continuing, there will be more chances to see the aurora over the coming months.
The Northern Lights appear as bright, swirling curtains of lights in the night sky and range in colour from green to pink and scarlet.
They’re caused by charged particles from the sun hitting gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. They occur around the North Pole when the solar wind carrying the particles interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field.
The most impressive auroras occur when the Sun emits really large clouds of particles called coronal mass ejections. The aurora originates from the poles and spreads southward (in the northern hemisphere) and depending on its strength, sky gazers in Scotland can often see the aurora. It’s rarer to see it in southern England.
However, with the Sun reaching a peak in activity, there have been more frequent spells of strong activity. This has resulted in the aurora being seen across southern England on a few occasions this year.
Solar activity increased throughout Monday afternoon with a “strong G3 geomagnetic storm” being observed, meaning it was likely that the Northern lights would be visible across the UK with the naked eye, overnight. BBC Weather Watchers sent in hundreds of photos of the Northern lights as they ventured outside between 10pm and 1am.
Source: eNCA
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