Northern Lights to be visible across UK skies again tonight

On Sunday evening rare displays of the Northern Lights were visible across many parts of the UK and are set to dazzle us again tonight.

The amazing displays of green, blue and purple swirling around in the sky left many people in awe at the rare spectacle across the UK.

The Met Office tweeted a series of pictures sent in by members of the public as they captured the fantastic light phenomenon — which people usually jet off to Iceland in the hope of seeing.

Also known as Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights are usually best seen in high latitude regions closer to the Arctic, such as Scandinavia. The natural phenomenon happens when electrons and protons collide with gases in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, causing tiny flashes of colourful light to fill the sky.

Last night, the Met Office tweeted: “A coronal hole high speed stream arrived this evening combined with a rather fast coronal mass ejection leading to #Aurora sightings across the UK.”

Tweeters submitted pictures of their sightings of the beautiful colours filling the sky in their areas, as they posted online. One tweeter wrote: “Cannot believe I just witnessed the Aurora Borealis right outside my village in Shropshire!”

Another typed: “Aurora at Ardmore, Armagh. Loving the breathtaking shots by everyone of last nights events from around UK and Ireland. Still processing what I have – but awesome display last night!”

A third person added: “Apparently the Aurora Borealis will be visible again in the UK tonight…I’m going to be looking for it.”

The Met Office will tweet pictures if another display is visible tonight, as they said today that there is ‘another chance’ to spot the ‘#Aurora’ tonight. You can tweet your picture to the Met Office using hashtag #LoveUK Weather.

Space physicists from Lancaster University will also feature peoples’ photo submissions on their account @aurorawatchuk – so if the sky is clear in your area tonight, don’t forget to look up!

If another display is to take place tonight, the night sky will need to be dark and clear, with little light pollution.

While Northern Scotland is the best place to see it, sightings closer to the horizon are possible as far down as southern Britain if there are clear skies.