If you’re hoping for a magical New Year’s Eve display then forget fireworks as the Northern Lights could hold the answer.
The Northern Lights – otherwise known as the aurora borealis – will be visible across Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England tonight the Met Office has said.
The best chance of seeing them is if the weather stays clear and relatively cloud-free as these are the best conditions to take in what is expected to be a spectacular display caused by the impact of a solar hitting the earth’s maganetic field.
The Royal Observatory in Greenwich says the further north stargazers are, the more likely they are to see the display – but heightened solar activity coming from the sun, our nearest star, has meant that the Northern Lights have been seen as south as Cornwall in recent months.
Solar storms, or solar flare do have the potential to knock out satellites and damage communications but the Met Office said the risk of that happening following tonight’s activity was small.
There has been a surge in the number of solar storms, as the Sun goes through a period of heightened activity which is expected to last through next year.
Solar storms mean huge clouds of electrically charged particles are thrown out from our nearest star.
Royal Observatory astronomer Tom Kerss said: “These particles then slam into atoms and molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere and essentially heat them up,”
“We call this physical process ‘excitation’, but it’s very much like heating a gas and making it glow.
“What we are seeing therefore are atoms and molecules in our atmosphere colliding with particles from the Sun. The aurora’s characteristic wavy patterns and ‘curtains’ of light are caused by the lines of force in the Earth’s magnetic field.
“The lowest part of an aurora is typically around 80 miles above the Earth’s surface. However, the top of a display may extend several thousand miles above the Earth.”
The further north you are the more likely you are to see tonight’s Northern Lights display.
Dark and clear nights, with minimal light pollution will mean the best chance of seeing the aurora.
Lancaster University’s Department of Physics runs a website called AuroraWatch UK, which estimates the likelihood of an aurora being visible based on geomagnetic activity.
However the weather outlook may mean some Brits will be disappointed, as unsettled weather has already caused the cancellation of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations with heavy rain, winds and some snow expected over the whole of the UK during the next few days.
