Skygazers had yet another chance to tick off one of the greatest natural sights from their bucket list last night – the Northern Lights.
For the second night running, the spectacular light display was visible in the UK after dusk.
Viewers have been posting their photos to X (formerly Twitter), including one based in Moffat in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, who called the display ‘stunning’.
Another viewer on west coast of Lewis in the Scottish Highlands posted: ‘It happened again!’ with the aurora shining purple and green.
If you missed the stunning display, there’s good news as the Met Office says there’s a chance the Northern Lights will be visible again tonight.
This photo was posted to X by user @moffat_wigwams showing the aurora as seen from Moffat in Dumfriesshire, Scotland
An aurora is created by disturbances in Earth’s magnetosphere due to a flow of particles from the sun and is usually centred around the Earth’s magnetic poles.
The charged particles are expelled from the sun at top speeds before interacting with Earth’s magnetic field.
The colour display depends in part on what molecules the charged particles interact with.
Red and green colours tend to be hallmarks of oxygen, pink and red the signs of nitrogen with blue and purple being the results of hydrogen and helium.
According to the Met Office, this week’s aurora stems from a coronal mass ejection (CME) – a massive expulsion of plasma from the sun’s corona, its outermost layer.
It’s possible the display could be visible yet again tonight due to the violent expulsion event although the further north you are the better.
A Met Office animation shows the auroral oval around the northern hemisphere, which marks where exactly the best chance of seeing the light display is until Friday.
‘A coronal mass ejection (CME) has a chance to affect Earth on Thursday 7th March,’ the Met Office says in a new statement.
‘There is a chance that aurora could become visible from Scotland and similar geomagnetic latitudes.
‘Similar enhancements to the auroral oval are slightly more likely to occur on Friday night.’
Pictured, the auroral oval around the northern hemisphere, which marks where exactly the best chance of seeing the light display is
Twitter user @KmunityOfEquals shared this photo of the aurora from Cornwall on Sunday night
A F-35B Lightning jet is parked at a flight deck of HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, under the northern lights near the coast of Norway, Sunday, March 3, 2024
Members of the public have already shared photos from Sunday night when the Northern Lights was visible in Wiltshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and even Cornwall.
According to the Met Office, people with a decent camera should be able to capture decent shots of the aurora further south even when it’s not visible with the naked eye.
‘Cameras help as the long exposure allows loads of light in and enhances the colours more than the human eye can see,’ a spokesperson said.
‘That is why you see pictures as far south as Cornwall sometimes though you’re unlikely to ever be able to see it with the naked eye that far south.’
The Northern Lights have fascinated scientists and skygazers for centuries, but the science behind it has not always been well understood.
Earth has an invisible forcefield, the magnetosphere, that protects us from dangerous charged particles from the Sun, controlled by the magnetic field.
Expert Marty Jopson explains: ‘Whilst it shelters us, it also creates one of the most impressive phenomena on Earth – the Northern Lights.’
Stonehenge in Wiltshire with the Northern Lights on Sunday March 3, the first big show of the aurora of 2024 in the UK
The Northern Lights is most commonly seen over places closer to the Arctic Circle such as Scandinavia and Alaska , so any sighting over the UK is a treat for skygazers. Pictured, Naworth Castle in Cumbria, March 3, 2024
This one of the aurora on Sunday night over the Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland was posted to Twitter by John O’Neill
Stunning: The aurora borealis at Rhossili Bay, Gower, Wales, taken on Sunday March 3, 2024
‘When the deadly solar winds meet Earth’s magnetosphere, some of the charged particles get trapped, and are propelled down the Earth’s magnetic field lines straight towards the poles.
‘And when they reach Earth, they strike atoms and molecules in our atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light.’
The problem is disruption to our magnetic field creates solar storms that can affect satellites in orbit, navigation systems, terrestrial power grids and data and communication networks.
‘Harmful space weather has affected Earth before, but as we become increasingly reliant on systems and technologies vulnerable to the Sun’s outbursts, future solar impacts could be even more disruptive,’ says the European Space Agency (ESA).
WHAT ARE AURORAS AND WHAT TRIGGERS THE STUNNING NATURAL DISPLAYS?
The Northern and Southern Lights are natural light spectacles triggered in our atmosphere that are also known as the ‘Auroras’.
There are two types of Aurora – Aurora Borealis, which means ‘dawn of the north’, and Aurora Australis, ‘dawn of the south.’
The displays light up when electrically charged particles from the sun enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
There are two types of Aurora – Aurora Borealis (file photo), which means ‘dawn of the north’, and Aurora Australis, ‘dawn of the south.’ The displays light up when electrically charged particles from the sun enter the Earth’s atmosphere
Usually the particles, sometimes referred to as a solar storm, are deflected by Earth’s magnetic field.
But during stronger storms they enter the atmosphere and collide with gas particles, including hydrogen and helium.
These collisions emit light. Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are common.
