The Met Office says there may be a chance to see the Northern Lights over the UK this weekend thanks to recent solar activity. The lights, also known as Aurora Borealis, are seen when high-energy electromagnetic particles from the Sun hit the Earth’s atmosphere.
It creates ribbons of light visible in the night sky – most often seen in northern countries such as Iceland and Finland. When the solar storms are strong, the lights can be seen as far south as parts of the UK.
The latest Met Office space weather report reads: “Solar activity has been Moderate, with several Moderate-class flares.” It adds: “There are currently eight sunspot regions on the visible disc. The three most actively flaring regions … lie in the southern hemisphere but close to the solar equator.”
The Met Office said: “A Coronal Mass Ejection that left the Sun on Nov 5 may have given the Earth a very slight and glancing blow around 10.30am on Friday, November 8.”
They add: “Connection to a number of weak streams of fast solar winds may occur, leading to possible minor enhancement. If this were to happen, then aurora may become visible across northern Scotland, and similar latitudes, where skies are clear.”
The Met Office says there is a possibility of seeing the lights on Friday, Saturday and Sunday when the skies are dark. Storms could be increasingly likely from Sunday thanks to the rotation of the Sun.