Northern Lights ‘red alert’ issued for UK as Met Office offers best place to see them

A red alert has been put in place by aurora experts, who said the northern lights are “likely” to be visible in UK skies again this evening (May 17). The Met Office has also announced where people can catch them as the amazing phenomenon could return.

According to the Met Office, “there remains a small chance of coronal mass ejection impacts overnight from Friday 17 May into Saturday 18 May”. A spokesman said: “These may bring some limited improvement to the aurora, with the slight potential to allow some visibility as far south as northern Scotland or similar latitudes.”

Coronal mass ejections are large bursts of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s outer atmosphere. The Met Office added that it had seen two strong eruptions, The Mirror reported.

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It comes as experts at AuroraWatch UK – led by scientists from the Space and Planetary Physics Group at Lancaster University’s Department of Physics – issued a red alert just after 7pm on 17 May. AuroraWatch UK produces an hourly activity index to measure ‘geomagnetic activity’ which we use to estimate the likelihood that the aurora can be seen from the UK.

Their warning means “the aurora is likely to be visible by eye and camera” in the UK.

Stargazers in Greater Manchester were treated to a stunning solar phenomenon last weekend when it made its appearance in the northern sky. Due to a severe geomagnetic storm, the Northern Lights were visible in the UK and other European countries where you wouldn’t normally see the phenomenon.

Described as a “rare event”, it led to a solar storm warning from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The natural aurora belt occurs around Norway, Iceland and Greenland, meaning it takes a severe or extreme geomagnetic storm to bring the belt south directly over the UK. This makes it an incredibly rare event.

Moderate to strong geomagnetic storms can mean the aurora borealis moves south through southern Iceland or towards the Faroe Islands, but these auroras may only be slightly visible from the UK under ideal conditions.

Tips for seeing the aurora in the UK during a severe or extreme storm include that it must be a clear night with no cloud cover, you will need to find a dark location with no light pollution and then look towards the northern horizon. The distance to the aurora belt means it can be difficult to see clearly with the naked eye, and is often depicted much brighter in images.