Northern Lights spotted across British skies

The Northern Lights graced the skies across parts of the UK on Thursday night, treating those from Sussex to Scotland to a dazzling array of colours.

The Met Office said sightings of the lights, also known as aurora borealis, were likely in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and possible in the north of England and the Midlands.

Relatively clear skies were forecast for much of the UK, creating a “decent chance of visibility”, the weather service said.

A spokesman said there had been “more space weather events in recent months”, including the Northern Lights because the sun was nearing the peak of its solar cycle.

The Met Office said there was “some uncertainty” as to when exactly the auroras would be visible, but skywatchers from across the UK began to share pictures of their sightings on Thursday evening. There is a chance they could also be visible in the early hours of Friday.

The auroras on Earth, which are most commonly seen over high polar latitudes but can often spread south to be visible over parts of the UK, are chiefly influenced by geomagnetic storms which originate from activity on the sun.

The sun works on a cycle of around 11 years called the solar cycle – with peak sunspot activity on the surface of the sun referred to as solar maximum.

Sunspots give the potential for Earth-directed releases of large bursts of energy, called coronal mass ejections, which can lead to aurora visibility.

Those further north will catch the best sightings, but the lights have been visible as far south as Sussex.

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Further residual viewings could be possible over the weekend, however, this is likely to be confined to Scotland.

Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.

As they collide, light is emitted at various wavelengths, creating colourful displays in the sky.

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