The northern lights could put on a show across the UK this weekend with recent solar flares creating the potential for a “breathtaking” display.
Aurora borealis is most likely to be visible in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England. However, there is potential for the lights to be seen farther south, as in May this year, due to intense activity on the sun.
The Met Office said: “Saturday night has the greatest likelihood of aurora sightings further south, across central England.”
Those keen to catch a glimpse of the shades of green and purple dancing across the sky are most likely to do so late at night, usually from 11pm onwards.
Silvia Dalla, a professor of solar physics at the University of Central Lancashire, said: “To maximise your chances of viewing the aurora, the sky needs to be as clear as possible. Look northwards and try to find a place with dark skies, ideally away from a city where light pollution can interfere with the view.”
A large solar flare on Thursday is behind this expected increase in space weather activity. The lights are caused by solar storms reacting with gases in Earth’s atmosphere.
Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which constantly watches the sun, captured a huge flare – a powerful burst of energy – on Thursday.
Flares and solar eruptions can affect radio communications, electric power grids and navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.
This flare was classified as an X9.0 flare. According to Nasa, X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.
Dalla said: “Solar flares and fast coronal mass ejections are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields. This strong geomagnetic activity results in breathtaking displays of the northern lights. If we get a repeat of the solar situation we saw in mid-May, we will potentially see more spellbinding auroral activity across the UK skies.”
Dr Steph Yardley, a space scientist at Northumbria University, said the region of the sun that has been producing the flares had been particularly active.
“This region on the sun is one to watch as it has been quite active over the past few days, previously producing another strong flare on 1 October that was also associated with a solar eruption,” she said.
“Both eruptions associated with the strong flares are Earth-directed and we expect them to impact us sometime between 4 and 6 October, meaning auroras might be visible in Scotland and north England during this period.”