Northern Lights poised for quick return to UK skies
The Northern Lights could soon make more appearances in the UK following last weekend’s spectacular displays, space weather forecasters have said.
The aurora borealis was seen across the UK and in some parts of Europe, including regions where sightings are very rare, after an extreme geomagnetic storm caused them to be more visible.
The latest sunstorm activity follows a period of flares and mass ejections of coronal plasma that threatened to disrupt power and communications on Earth and in orbit.
Krista Hammond, a space weather expert at the Met Office, said on Saturday that the sunspot region will be rotated back towards Earth in 10 to 12 days, paving the way for further geomagnetic storms and displays of the Northern Lights.
“The sunspot region will be be coming back round on to the Earth-facing side of the sun,” she said.
The sun is currently in the most active period of its 11-year cycle.
‘We’re seeing more sunspots’
Ms Hammond explained: “We’re currently at solar maximum and we’re seeing more sunspots. If we see more sunspots, we see this increased frequency in space weather and therefore the aurora.”
Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.
The forecaster downplayed the chances of a full repeat of last weekend’s display, but said more solar activity would mean a good chance of sightings “in the coming weeks, months and years”.
“It was such a unique set of circumstances that happened last weekend,” she said. “The chances of the same sunspots doing the same thing again, it’s probably quite slim.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes around and there’s some activity on it, but I doubt it will be a repeat performance.”
Where displays can be seen in the UK is dictated by the “strength of geomagnetic storming”, she said.
“There are a couple of mass ejections on their way to Earth,” Ms Hammond added.
“They’re a lot less powerful than what we saw last weekend, but they could bring aurora displays across predominantly northern parts of the UK, such as Scotland, Northern Ireland, north of England.
“Just because we’re not seeing aurora across the whole of the UK, it doesn’t mean that we’re not going to see it in some areas.”
