Best places to see the Northern Lights above UK tonight

The Northern Lights have lit up the skies with bright pink hues visible on Thursday.

Photos of the dazzling natural phenomenon, also known as aurora borealis, were captured across England. The lights could be seen as far south as Kent and East Anglia, and were also spotted further north in Lancaster by Professor Jim Wild, 49, who captured the Northern Lights from his back garden.

The academic, who researches the aurora and space weather at Lancaster University, said: ‘My research focuses on the physics of the connections between the Sun and the Earth.

‘Over the years, I’ve been to the Arctic Circle several times to make measurements of the aurora, but it’s really special to see the northern lights from your back garden with your whole family.’

The Met Office said relatively clear skies were forecast for much of the UK, creating a ‘decent chance of visibility’.

A dark place away from any light is the best chance you will get of seeing the northern lights tonight.

Spots that are high up and away from any light pollution are particularly good because they are closer to the magnetosphere.

Where can you see the Northern Lights in the UK tonight?

Some of the best spots across the UK include the Lake District in Cumbria, Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Whitley Bay in North Tyneside and the Shetland Islands.

The skies are clear in large parts of the UK tonight as well making the possibility of seeing them even more likely.

People were treated to a rare glimpse of the Northern Lights in May.

Its arrival came after a huge solar storm hit Earth, with the enhanced solar activity potentially supercharging the Aurora Borealis.

They were visible for the first time across the UK in 20 years, even visible over London’s light pollution.

The northern lights have also been captured by an astronaut in space and it makes for some breathtaking viewing.

Nasa astronaut Matthew Dominick shared the timelapse from the window of a SpaceX Endeavour Crew Dragon spacecraft and posted it on Tuesday.

The 11 second video shows a dazzling view of the red and green aurora from the spacecraft currently docked on the International Space Station.

To create the timelapse Dominick stitched together ‘a couple thousand images’.

He captioned the video on X: ‘Red and green aurora appear to dance in a timelapse as we fly by looking out Dragon Endeavour’s window with Dragon Freedom in view.

‘We shot a couple thousand images yesterday trying to get the settings, lighting, and framing just right across multiple orbital nights because the aurora was amazing due to recent solar activity.

‘Posted a single frame yesterday from a series of 300 or so images taken at an interval of about 1.6 seconds.’

Dominick first made the venture into space in March as part of SpaceX’s Crew-8 mission.

He was originally meant to return to Earth on October 13 but strong winds from Hurricane Milton has prevented this from happening.

Deaths from the storm have been reported and more than three million people are without power.

The sun’s cycle lasts for about 11 years as its magnetic fields flip and during the ‘solar maximum’ phase, there are many more solar flares and solar storms, meaning the Northern Lights appear much further south than they normally would.

Auroras are caused when electrically charged particles collide with the Earth’s magnetosphere.

The colours of red and green are given off when when the particles collide with oxygen.

Collisions with atmospheric nitrogen result in blue and purple colours being created.

Stargazers across the country have already spotted the northern lights several times this year.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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