Brits lucky enough to have a cloudless sky this week may have caught a glimpse of the epic aerial dance of the northern lights. Also known as the aurora borealis, this spectacular natural light show is often most visible in Arctic regions near the north and south poles.

    But in recent years, the northern lights have become more visible to those enjoying the sky from the British Isles.

    This week, stargazers as far south as Sussex could capture a glimpse of the northern lights on Thursday night and even on Friday.
    Meteorologists have already shared their tips for catching the best view of the northern lights from the UK this weekend.

    It’s not the first time this year, either. Some Londoners were lucky enough to capture the spectacular light show across the night skies in spring.
    Reports of the northern lights gracing UK skies appear to be growing year on year, and seeing this phenomenon so often is still pretty unusual.
    So, what exactly is going on?

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    27 Comments

    1. To be pedantic, the summer "equinox" is actually the "summer solstice" in June and the "winter solstice" is in December. I think you meant the "autumn equinox" which is around September 21st.
      In any case, auroral activity has nothing to do with solstices or equinoxes. It is correlated with the 11 year sunspot cycle. At solar max the sun has lots of sunspots. These decrease gradually to almost none about 5 or 6 years later – solar minimum. Then they gradually increase again. When there are lots of sunspots the sun casts out lots of charged charged particles in the form of coronal mass ejections. Its these particles that hit our atmosphere, primarily in polar regions, to cause these lovely lightshows.

    2. The magnetic field is weakening as the magnetic poles migrate. This allows in more of the suns energy, also explains why aurora which used to be mainly green are now vibrant reds and purple.
      But if you want to believe the sun is having a 'moment' cos you know 'science' go ahead 😂

    3. The other thing that makes seeing the northern lights easier in 2024 is that most people have phone cameras capable of capturing the incredibly dim displays. This wasn't even possible a few years ago. I bet even today most people in the UK haven't seen them with their own eyes.

    4. Strange how acceptable to call British Brits without drama as it would be shortening other nationalities names.
      We're see these lights because the term solar maximus is current and the sun is at its most active cycle which is around every ten years. Apparently the more the lights the more the solar active it testing the earth's magnetic field. No vaccine required.

    5. Enquiring Minds will want to find out why some very mediocre low key solar flares are producing such spectacular Northern Lights all across the Northern Hemisphere😅

    6. I agree with Nick Hart's comment below – I believe it is because there are dramatic changes taking place in the planet's magnetic field. We are due for a geomagnetic reversal and I understand the change process can last hundreds or thousands of years and is underway. Are these aurora events simultaneously appearing where we would expect them or is the whole spectacle moving southwards? In other words is it a super large event extending from the polar North to these southerly latitudes or are the lines of magnetic force being shifted and taking the particles with it to show the aurora in a new locality?

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