Northern Lights in UK tonight: Spectacular aurora mapped after huge solar storm

The show of the Northern Lights, besides known arsenic aurora borealis, is the latest spectacular successful caller star activity, happening due to the fact that the prima is adjacent the highest of its existent 11-year cycle

Sightings of the Northern Lights are apt contiguous crossed parts of Britain, the Met Office says.

The meteorologists person issued a striking graphic, which shows the probabilities of catching a glimpse of the latest aurora borealis crossed the UK. As often the case, those surviving successful Scotland and Northern Ireland are astir apt to witnesser the display, with optimum conditions expected astatine astir midnight.

Skies volition mostly beryllium wide too, further enhancing chances to bask the dazzling aurora. Even those further southbound whitethorn inactive bask the Northern Lights this evening, the Met Office points out.

"Look northbound successful the coming nights and you whitethorn spot the #NorthernLights. A coronal wide ejection from the prima is world bound and whilst there's immoderate uncertainty connected its accomplishment time, sightings of the #aurora are apt successful bluish areas with a flimsy accidental successful the southbound too," a Met Office station connected X, formerly Twitter, reads this afternoon.

The graphic, published by the Mirror arsenic a video above, highlights the probability of seeing the aurora borealis volition beryllium adjacent 100% for those crossed the Shetland Islands and the bluish extremity of mainland Scotland.

It's astir 50% crossed Scottish Highlands and the extremity of Northern Ireland, and little apt - but inactive viable - further south. The Met Office says it'll beryllium rainy crossed parts of Scotland contiguous but "largely adust elsewhere, with lengthy wide spells". Clouds typically hinder the chances of seeing the Northern Lights.

Writing connected its website, the Met Office says: "The Northern Lights hap arsenic a effect of star activity and effect from collisions of charged particles successful the star upwind colliding with molecules successful the Earth's precocious atmosphere.

"Solar winds are charged particles that watercourse distant from the Sun astatine speeds of astir 1 cardinal miles per hour. When the magnetic polarity of the star upwind is other to the Earth's magnetic field, the 2 magnetic fields harvester allowing these energetic particles to travel into the Earth's magnetic northbound and southbound poles.

"Auroras usually hap successful a set called the annulus (a ringing astir 1,865 miles across) centred connected the magnetic pole. The accomplishment of a Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) from the Sun tin origin the annulus to expand, bringing the aurora to little latitudes. It is nether these circumstances that the lights tin beryllium seen successful the UK."