The exact time you could see the Northern Lights tonight after the Met Office issued a red alert

Britons across the country could get the chance to see the Northern Lights tonight. Also known as the Northern Lights, the pink and green bands of light could be visible in parts of the UK later today.

It comes after the rare phenomenon was spotted in the UK last week. An “extreme” geomagnetic storm has made them visible far below the Arctic Circle, US government experts said.

The Met Office has now said the Northern Lights could return at 9pm tonight (Monday 20 May). A ‘red alert’ has been issued – meaning the aurora could be visible from several parts of the UK.

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The data indicates a chance of seeing them at 9pm in Scotland and Northern Ireland. There is also a small chance that people in the North of England and North Wales will be able to catch a glimpse of the aurora, The Sun reports.

The northern lights are expected to gradually fade overnight, but forecasters have not ruled out a sighting later this week. Aurora displays occur when charged particles exit sunspots and collide with Earth’s atmosphere around the poles.

Met Office space expert Krista Hammond said: “We are currently at solar maximum and seeing more sunspots. The sunspot region will turn to the Earth-facing side of the Sun.

“If we see more sunspots, we see this frequency increased in spacetime and therefore in the aurora.”