Northern Lights ‘red alert’ issued

A red alert for the Northern Lights has been issued due to significant coronal mass ejections from the sun impacting Earth’s atmosphere. Experts at Aurorawatch UK have announced that the spectacle is likely to be visible across the UK, including all of England, even to the naked eye.

The Northern Lights were seen on Tuesday night across Scotland as a solar storm intensified the aurora, bringing it southwards towards the United Kingdom. However, experts predict that tonight’s display could be visible across the entire UK.

‘AuroraWatch UK’ reports that solar activity has escalated, leading to ‘amber’ and then ‘red’ alerts being issued this afternoon. The Sun is currently in a “maximum” phase of its 11-year solar cycle, meaning there are numerous sunspots on its surface.

These sunspots, akin to volcanoes, occasionally erupt, releasing additional material and energy into space in what are known as Coronal Mass Ejections (CME’s).

When directed towards Earth, our planet’s magnetic field draws this energy in, with it entering our atmosphere at the poles. The Met Office Space Weather forecasting service stated: “A coronal mass ejection (CME) arrived at Earth in the late afternoon on April 15th. Its associated effects may continue into Wednesday night and may bring aurora to far northern parts of the UK and similar geomagnetic latitudes. The auroral oval will ease to background levels thereafter.”, reports Lancs Live.

The prime time to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights usually falls between 9pm and 2am. The stunning light show is caused by charged particles colliding with gases in Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.

This activity primarily occurs within an area known as the aurora oval, which spans latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees in the northern hemisphere.

When the activity intensifies, the aurora oval expands, allowing the Northern Lights to be visible even as far south as the UK. In fact, the spectacle has been witnessed across the UK in 2024.

The British Geological Survey suggests that the most impressive displays of the Northern Lights occur around the equinoxes (March-April and September-October), due to increased magnetic storms during these periods.

“The brightest aurora are typically around 11pm to midnight local time,” says Andy Smith, a researcher at Northumbria University who is using artificial intelligence to predict space weather.

In terms of recent space weather activity, “Five sunspot regions feature on the visible disc. A region in the north centre disc is showing signs of magnetic complexity. A region in the far east is showing a faint trailing spot, however foreshortening near the limb makes this region very difficult to assess at present. The other regions are relatively small and simple.”

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