{"id":1474,"date":"2025-03-26T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T10:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=1474"},"modified":"2025-03-27T11:28:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T11:28:04","slug":"exact-dates-when-you-might-see-the-northern-lights-in-the-uk-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/exact-dates-when-you-might-see-the-northern-lights-in-the-uk-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Exact dates when you might see the Northern Lights in the UK this week"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"The\t<\/div>
The Northern Lights cast an ethereal curtain over Whitley Bay on the North East coast of England earlier today (Picture: Owen Humphreys\/PA Wire)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Northern Lights<\/a> will transform the typically gloomy skies above the UK with streaks of pink, purple and green this week.<\/p>\n

The night sky phenomenon, or aurora borealis, are flashes of colour that mainly appear in the northernmost regions of the planet<\/a>, like Canada<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But a geomagnetic storm<\/a> that has raged for months has made this celestial fireworks display visible further south \u2013 even in London<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Met Office says <\/a>that the Northern Lights will be visible in the UK this week \u2013 and for a good while. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know. <\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tWhat are the Northern Lights?\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n

Wrapped around the Earth is something called the magnetic field. Think of it like cling film wrapped around an apple that helps keep worms away.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, we don\u2019t need to worry about any space worms coming for us. Instead, the field shields us from the plasma the sun spits out, called solar wind.<\/p>\n

Some of those energy particles splatter over the Earth and cause a disturbance in our planet\u2019s magnetic field, known as a geomagnetic storm.<\/p>\n

If that storm is strong enough, the aurora borealis (no, not that actor from Bones or Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/a>) becomes visible<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Will we see the Northern Lights today?<\/h2>\n
\n
\n\t\t\"Aurora\t<\/div>
Places like Iceland regularly see the Northern Lights (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Probably! The Met Office<\/a> says a burst of solar activity means the aurora will dance above northern Scotland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the weather agency\u2019s \u2018space weather\u2019 forecast (yes, really), it says: \u2018There is a chance of aurora sightings at times across northern Scotland this week, given clear night-time skies, with a slight chance of sightings across Southern Scotland and similar latitudes.\u2019<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a good chance they\u2019ll be visible elsewhere in the UK. In the early hours today, for example, Northern Lights chasers saw the neon spaghetti above Whitley Bay, a\u00a0seaside town in North Tyneside.<\/p>\n

A big stream of this sun gunk, called solar wind, will reach us today and last until Friday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why is the UK seeing the Northern Lights?<\/h2>\n

The sun\u2019s magnetic field flips every 11 years, the peak of which is known as the solar maximum, Tom Kerss<\/a>, an astronomer and author once dubbed \u2018Chief Aurora Chaser<\/a>\u2019, told Metro<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

\u2018With the arrival of solar maximum starting in October last year, we\u2019ve had a super season of aurora-chasing,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Uncleared\t<\/div>
Forecasters say the Northern Lights will be visible this week (Picture: Met Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018And the good news is that heightened solar activity brings an increased chance of sightings at UK latitudes, particularly in Scotland.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kerss says that a large coronal hole that coughs up all sorts of high-speed gunk called solar wind is now facing the Earth. \u2018You can think of this as somewhat analogous to aeroplane turbulence,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n

\u2018Where the solar wind speed changes \u2013 a region called the stream interface \u2013 the space weather is choppy. This is very favourable for the development of bright and dynamic auroras, and this enhanced solar wind also influences the range of latitudes at which they can be seen, bringing them farther south.\u2019<\/p>\n

Being so close to the Spring equinox also helps. \u2018In late March, as in late September, the alignment of the Earth\u2019s magnetic field is particularly good,\u2019 he said. <\/p>\n

\u2018So there\u2019s a nice confluence of solar activity and our orbit that will hopefully pay off for budding aurora hunters.\u2019<\/p>\n

How can I photograph the Northern Lights?<\/h2>\n

\u2018There\u2019s something utterly unique about seeing the auroras yourself,\u2019 Kerss said. <\/p>\n

\u2018They show a subtlety and softness that\u2019s hard to define, yet they\u2019re also distinctly self-luminous and evidently enormous.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s something that many people will, of course, be eager to take photos of. <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"WHITLEY\t<\/div>
Whitley Bay also saw the neon lightshow last year (Picture: Getty Images Europe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Even a smartphone can now reveal a striking range of colour that our eyes aren\u2019t sensitive enough to see vividly,\u2019 Kerss added. <\/p>\n

\u2018Today\u2019s smartphones capture remarkably good shots of the night sky, including the Northern Lights. You\u2019ll need to ensure night mode is enabled. <\/p>\n

\u2018On the iPhone, it\u2019s automatically on when a yellow bubble appears in the corner. On Android, you can select it manually. It takes several seconds to capture a photo, so hold still, or use a tripod if you have one.<\/p>\n

\u201dFor larger cameras, you can achieve longer exposures, but you\u2019ll need to use your fastest and widest lens. Set the focus to manual and use a bright star or planet to achieve perfect focus for the Lights. <\/p>\n

\u2018Experiment with the ISO (at least 800) and exposure (several seconds or more) settings until the images appear bright enough. Shoot in raw so you can edit these later to reveal more colour.\u2019<\/p>\n

How to track aurora activity in the UK<\/h2>\n

AuroraWatch UK<\/a>, a Lancaster University service that monitors the phenomenon, recorded recent \u2018significant activity\u2019 at 2am last night. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s quietened since but similar services like VeryWeather <\/a>show an \u2018aurora storm\u2019 is rumbling. <\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Northern Lights cast an ethereal curtain over Whitley Bay on the North East coast of England earlier today (Picture: Owen Humphreys\/PA Wire) The Northern Lights will transform the typically gloomy skies above the UK with streaks of pink, purple and green this week. The night sky phenomenon, or aurora borealis, are flashes of colour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1474"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1481,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions\/1481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}