Large parts of the UK were treated to a beautiful display last night on Sunday night.
And for anyone who missed the grand display the Met Office has said the phenomenon could return tonight.
It tweeted a series of pictures taken by members of the public which captured the aurora in North Uist in Scotland, North Wales, Cambridgeshire and Shropshire.
The national weather service said: “A coronal hole high-speed stream arrived this evening combined with a rather fast coronal mass ejection leading to #Aurora sightings across the UK.”
The Met Office also said there is a chance of seeing the northern lights again on Monday night.
A coronal hole high speed stream arrived this evening combined with a rather fast coronal mass ejection leading to #Aurora sightings across the UK@MadMike123 in North Uist@Jon9tea in North Wales@paulhaworth in Cambridgeshire@alex_murison in Shropshire pic.twitter.com/8JhqxPbcFK
— Met Office (@metoffice) February 26, 2023
What causes Northern Lights?
Royal Museums Greenwich explains on its website that the lights are caused by solar storms on the surface of the sun giving out clouds of electrically charged particles which can travel millions of miles and collide with the Earth.
Most particles are deflected away but some are captured in the Earth’s magnetic field and accelerate down towards the north and south poles, colliding with atoms and molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere, according to the observatory.
READ MORE: Scotland bathed by Northern Lights on Sunday
The lights are the product of this collision between atoms and molecules from the Earth’s atmosphere and particles from the sun.
In November last year, strong light displays were witnessed across Scotland.
A Met Office spokesperson said the rare sightings of the aurora borealis further south in the UK on Sunday night were due to the “strength” of a geomagnetic storm and the “strip of cloudless skies” in southern regions.
How to watch the aurora
As the charged particles are striking the earth's north magnetic pole, the further north you are, the greater the chance of witnessing their display.
It is unusual for the lights to be visible to the south of Scotland or in England, which makes this even all the more rare.
Light pollution from city streetlamps also affects the chances of seeing the aurora, so getting into the countryside also increases the chances of seeing the lights.
As with all skybound phenomena, a high vantage point helps, with a clear view of the horizon.
The lights appear as a shimmering curtain in the sky, most often described as green but also pink or orange.
Letting your eyes adjust to the dark and constantly scanning the sky for movement shoudl boost your chances of catching a glimpse, which may only be fleeting depending on the strength of the show.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here