Met office northern lights map

Find out about how and why the northern lights form, and where to see them in the UK.

Space weather describes changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space. Learn more about Space Weather. The auroral oval may be enhanced into Sunday 25 Feb. This gives a slight chance of seeing the aurora in the far north of Scotland and similar geomagnetic latitudes under favorable viewing conditions. Otherwise no significant enhancements are forecast, with visible aurora unlikely to be seen away from high latitudes. The auroral oval may be enhanced into Sunday 25 Feb, but visible aurora is unlikely to be seen away from high latitudes. Space Weather Forecast Headline: High solar activity.

Met office northern lights map

More information on the map and the different layers available here. We have collaborated with the Aurorasaurus citizen science project to bring real-time aurora reports to our aurora map. These reports will help you determine if the aurora is being seen from anywhere in the UK. Read more about the Aurorasaurus collaboration here and submit your own report to Aurorasaurus to see it appear on the map! If you know of any good locations for photographing the aurora please contact us ; we are looking for specific sites with picturesque horizons, interesting foregrounds or opportunities for framing a shot in a unique way. Any details you can include about the site would be very helpful. The more opaque darker the green, the more likely it is that an aurora will be visible overhead. More details here. To enable local information add "My location" marker to map and drag its position if necessary. AuroraWatch UK magnetometer. Background colour indicates alert status of magnetometer.

The remaining regions are much smaller and appear simpler, however, the three regions close to the eastern limb may reveal more complexity as they rotate into clear view on the disc. AuroraWatch UK magnetometer.

Information about the auroras - what are they and when are you likely to be able to see them This is a very rare occurrence. During more moderate to strong geomagnetic storms Kp , the Aurora borealis often moves southwards across southern Iceland or towards the Faeroes. These auroras can be faintly visible from the UK because they occur at high altitudes. The Sun goes through an 11 year solar cycle, from solar minimum, through solar maximum and back to solar minimum. Solar maximum occurred in early so we are now in the declining phase of the solar cycle.

The northern lights could illuminate skies across the UK on Saturday evening into Sunday morning, according to the Met Office. The forecaster predicts the natural phenomenon could be as strong as the lights that were spotted last weekend by webcams from Shetland and from onlookers in central and eastern parts of England. The Met Office said the best chances of seeing the aurora borealis this weekend would be across northern parts of Scotland , North Wales and the Midlands. The forecaster said the rest of the UK was likely to miss out on the light spectacle due to cloud cover. The event is likely to be as strong as the one witnessed last weekend. On 5 November, the aurora borealis was visible in Northamptonshire and Northumberland and some onlookers even spotted a strong thermal emission velocity enhancement, a phenomenon that often appears as a purple or green streak in the sky.

Met office northern lights map

Find out about how and why the northern lights form, and where to see them in the UK. The northern lights also known as aurora borealis appear as large areas of colour including pale green, pink, shades of red, yellow, blue and violet in the direction due north. During a weak aurora, the colours are very faint and spread out whereas an intense aurora features greater numbers of and brighter colours which can be seen higher in the sky with a distinct arc. The northern lights are best seen in darkness, away from any light pollution. The lights generally extend from 50 miles to as high as miles above the Earth's surface. The northern lights occur as a consequence of solar activity and result from collisions of charged particles in the solar wind colliding with molecules in the Earth's upper atmosphere. Solar winds are charged particles that stream away from the Sun at speeds of around 1 million miles per hour. When the magnetic polarity of the solar wind is opposite to the Earth's magnetic field, the two magnetic fields combine allowing these energetic particles to flow into the Earth's magnetic north and south poles. Auroras usually occur in a band called the annulus a ring about 1, miles across centred on the magnetic pole. It is under these circumstances that the lights can be seen in the UK.

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To enable local information add "My location" marker to map and drag its position if necessary. The auroral ovals represent the places on Earth where aurora occur most often and with greatest intensity. This continues to be by far the largest and most complex of the seven sunspot regions on the visible disc, despite some apparent reduction in complexity in the past 12 hours or so. All-sky camera or webcam. On average you might expect to see aurora in the far north of Scotland every few months, but less often as you travel further south. In other parts of the solar cycle these disturbances are largely the result of coronal mass ejections , which can give larger magnitude disturbances than these high speed streams. Working with us Equality, diversity and inclusion Vacancies. Coronal holes are the sources of high speed solar wind streams. The Royal Photographic Society are experts in photography and have brought together the best advice on photography for the auroras below. Usage Impacts Details History Data This is a short-term forecast of the location and intensity of the aurora. The chance of big magnetic storms will be greatest around the years leading up to solar maximum and shortly afterwards.

Learning how to read the Northern Lights forecast and be patient is crucial if you want to increase your chances of seeing this elusive phenomenon.

For the same technical reasons, it took until until the first colour photographs were made. Contact us About us Job vacancies. During a weak aurora, the colours are very faint and spread out whereas an intense aurora features greater numbers of and brighter colours which can be seen higher in the sky with a distinct arc. The latest 24 hours of image frames comprising the Northern and Southern hemisphere loops with time-tagged file names are available: Northern , Southern. This is a very rare occurrence. Today we can explain the origins or auroras, and even predict them, through science and careful observation. The chance of big magnetic storms will be greatest around the years leading up to solar maximum and shortly afterwards. Background colour indicates alert status of magnetometer. Otherwise no significant enhancements are forecast, with visible aurora unlikely to be seen away from high latitudes. Site of recent aurora photograph. Follow MetOfficeSpace. Find out about how and why the northern lights form, and where to see them in the UK. Northern Hemisphere. These charged particles collide with gas molecules in the atmosphere.