Northern Lights could be visible again tonight after 'extreme' geomagnetic storm

The breathtaking Northern Lights may grace our skies again after a phenomenal light show last night.

The ethereal aurora borealis, boasting bands of pink and green shadows painting the sky, have been more visible due to an "extreme" geomagnetic storm, as stated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, confirmed sightings "from top to tail across the country". He said: "It is hard to fully predict what will happen in the Earth's atmosphere, but there will still be enhanced solar activity tonight, so the lights could be visible again in northern parts of the UK, including Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England."

Read more: Northern Ireland yellow thunderstorm warning issued for areas by Met Office

Friday's auroral display was not only limited to the UK as sightings were reported in various parts of Europe, with Snell commenting that pictures and information from Prague and Barcelona had reached the Met Office.

Snell advises those keen on viewing this spectacle to go somewhere with minimal light pollution and to be armed with a decent camera. He added: "The best chance you have of seeing the lights is if you are away from street lights and areas with lots of light pollution, as any type of light does have a big effect."

"Also, at this time of year, we are fighting the shorter length of nights, so it is unlikely that they will be visible until around 10.30pm or 11 o'clock when it gets really dark."

While sightings in southern parts of the UK are less probable on Saturday, there's hope yet. Mr Snell suggests a strong camera lens might give you glimpse of the spectacle.

This mesmerising occurrence can be credited to Thursday's G5 geomagnetic storm, considered extreme and the strongest level of solar storm. Measuring up to 17 times the diameter of the Earth, this "large, complex" sunspot cluster roused the storm, says the NOAA.

The last major encounter with a G5 rating shook Earth more than 20 years ago in October 2003. Sweden wasn't left unscathed by the cosmic commotion as it caused power outages, as per Professor Carole Haswell in conversation with BBC Radio 4 Today Programme on Saturday morning.

Prof Haswell, the head of astronomy at the Open University, stated: "A lot of the satellites communicate using radio signals and all of these charged particles speeding around disrupt radio signals, particularly GPS which is used by planes can be disrupted so it can cause navigation problems, it can cause outages with satellites, it can bring down power systems."

"The last big G5 storm caused a power outage in Sweden and I haven't heard of anything happening this time yet, so hopefully people have designed in sort of redundancies into their systems so that they can actually weather this sort of space weather."

As reported to the PA news agency, a representative from the Energy Networks Association reassured that the UK's electricity network remained functional as usual on Saturday morning despite monitoring the solar storm.

Delving into the science behind the aurora's array of colours, Prof Haswell explained: "Green comes from oxygen which is about 80 to 250 miles above the earth's surface."

"The purple, blue and pink comes from nitrogen and when you get a very strong aurora sometimes you see a sort of scarlet red, and that comes from oxygen which is higher in the earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of about 180 miles."

The occurrence of Aurora displays is due to the collision between charged particles and gases in Earth's atmosphere around the magnetic poles.

In the northern hemisphere, the majority of this activity happens within the 'aurora oval,' a band covering latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees.

When the activity is particularly strong, this area expands which is why we can sometimes see the displays as far south as the UK.

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