Vivid colours of the aurora captured in Northern Ireland
The northern lights were spotted across the United Kingdom on Sunday night in a surprisingly strong display.
While there was an ongoing weak solar storm, the aurora ended up being visible from the Scotland’s Highlands down to Cornwall.
A sudden spike in solar activity – which causes the lights – saw an aurora “red alert” issued on Sunday evening.
Luckily aurora watchers had their cameras ready to capture the stunning display.
Activity on the Sun has been increasing over the last few years and is expected to peak this year which means the aurora becomes more frequent.
Those who follow aurora activity in the UK were alerted to a sudden spike in solar activity at around 17:00 GMT on Sunday evening when a “red alert” was issued by AuroraWatch UK – an organisation from the University of Lancaster that monitors solar activity.
It was then a waiting game for those that had clear skies for darkness to fall with a camera pointed to the north.
The spike in solar activity lasted until 21:00 GMT but there were still some reports of the aurora even after that.
Image source, BBC Weather Watchers / Jonny Gios
BBC Weather Watcher ‘Jonny Gios’ had a well timed picture of the northern lights in Cumbria.
There is a greater chance of seeing the aurora over the next few years because the Sun is reaching the peak of its 11-year cycle, due to be at the end of 2024 or early 2025.
That means an increase in the number of sunspots – massive fields of magnetic pressure on the surface of the Sun.
These in turn erupt as a coronal mass ejection, or CME, which is when plasma is expelled from the Sun. And if that is pointed in the direction of Earth, it sends charged particles via solar winds toward our atmosphere.
The charged particles interact with oxygen and nitrogen in our atmosphere to create the colours of the aurora we are all familiar with.
Image source, BBC Weather Watchers / Geraint
Aurora spotted in Holyhead, Anglesey
Image source, BBC Weather Watchers / David
Deep greens of the aurora in the Highlands on Sunday evening.
Image source, BBC Weather Watcher / Jo Shreeve
The strong aurora display was even spotted as far south as Cornwall.
