Sit-On Lawnmower Accidentally Sets Off Northern Lights Alert

A lawnmower has been blamed for wrongly triggering sensors that are able to predict when the Northern Lights will be visible in the UK.

A ‘red alert’ was found to be false by the group Aurora Watch after they noticed that sensor readings were ‘spurious’.

Instead, a thorough investigation revealed that a lawnmower had come in close contact with one of the sensors, setting off a ‘massive spike’ in data.

The group now say that they are looking into ways to prevent the sensor from being triggered again.

The alert was initially set off on the 23 August after a magnometer located at Lancaster University recorded a huge surge in geomagnetic activity.

Academics at the University run Aurora Watch, and are responsible for taking readings from magnometers across Britain to establish when the Aurora Borealis will next be visible.

But in this instance, they discovered that a groundskeeper had been using a ‘sit-on’ lawnmower, and it was this that caused the initial flurry of activity.

They say that any metal located close to the sensors can be responsible for causing inaccurate readings.

The lead sensor for the group is usually located in Aberdeen, but it had failed on the day of the false alarm - with the Lancaster sensor instead taking a prime role.