This is promising news for stargazers hoping to catch a glimpse of the phenomenon
The Met Office has suggested people may be able to see the Northern Lights across Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland this weekend. Forecasters are optimistic that Saturday, October 5, will have the greatest likelihood of the aurora borealis being visible.
The solar activity has been high and moderate flares are expected with a chance of isolated strong flares over the course of Saturday and Sunday. This is promising news for stargazers hoping to catch a glimpse of the spectacular phenomenon.
The Met Office stated: ”Aurora activity is expected to increase this weekend, leading to aurora potentially being visible across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England where skies are clear. Saturday night has the greatest likelihood of aurora being visible, with a chance that aurora may be visible further south, across central England and similar latitudes.”
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Discussing solar activity they said: “Solar activity has been High, with the background level solar activity just below Moderate Class level and several M-class flares occurring. The largest flare was a Strong flare observed at 03/1218 UTC, which originated from a geomagnetically complex region near south-centre disc
“A filament eruption (arc of plasma material) was observed 03/0630 UTC in coronagraph imagery, close to a sunspot region located near the northeast limb. This has produced a coronal mass ejection (CME) off the northeast limb, which has been analysed as missing Earth. The arrival of another CME, from Oct 3, is more confidence, arriving either late on the 5th or early on Oct 6.”
Looking ahead to the weekend the Met Office added: ”Solar activity is expected to be moderate, with further moderate class flares expected and a chance of isolated Strong flares occurring, these most likely originating from the complex regions in the southwest.”
Those keen to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights are most likely to catch the spectacle late at night, usually from 11pm to 12am onwards. To maximise your chances of viewing the aurora, the sky needs to be as clear as possible.
Back in May, many will remember the “insane” Northern Lights creating magical skies above Liverpool and beyond. The Northern Lights were spotted in areas such as Huyton, Crosby, Belle Vale and Norris Green.
Many people shared their incredible photos of scenes across the region on social media. ECHO photographer Colin Lane captured some incredible images of the Northern Lights in Crosby at the time. At: “It’s mega guys, what a night…insane colours.”
