Brits in northern parts of the UK are set to be treated to an incredible celestial display tonight as the Met Office says the Northern Lights is expected to light up the night sky. According to the meteorologists, the stunning phenomena will be visible Thursday and Friday night this week (March 30-31) - providing skies remain clear.
The stellar display should be visible in northern Scotland and a bit further south, but people in southern England may struggle to see much. The event is said to be a product of a 'hole' that has occurred on the sun's surface, creating solar storms with winds of almost 500 miles per second hurtling towards Earth, the Mirror reports.
Krista Hammond, of the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre, said that "minor solar storms” will be “possible” this evening and Friday night. "Which means aurora sightings would be possible in northern Scotland under clear skies," she added.
READ MORE: Met Office predicts Nottinghamshire set for 15C spring weather shift
However, she explained that "as this is a fairly minor solar storm", the auroras "aren't expected to be visible much further south on this occasion." It comes after last month saw Britain treated to a spectacular light show, with the Aurora Borealis visible as far south as Kent and Cornwall.
The 'hole' on the surface of the sun is known as a coronal hole. It is a large dark region in the atmosphere that is cooler than its surrounding area. It was spotted by Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and found to be 20 times bigger than Earth.
Commenting on the event, Daniel Verscharen, associate professor in space plasma physics at University College London, said: "Coronal holes are regions from where fast solar wind is launched into space. Fast solar wind has speeds of about 700 or 800km per second and is thus almost twice as fast as the average solar wind.
"This particular coronal hole is of interest to us because it has pointed towards Earth. This means that it has released fast solar wind towards the Earth." Krista Hammond added: "This is expected to be a G1 solar storm, which is the lowest category for these events and the most frequent events we see."
According to the Met Office, tonight in Nottingham, "any remaining showers soon dying out." A spokesperson added: "Rain, heavy at times, then moving in from the west and continuing overnight. Likely breezier in the south with lighter winds in the north. Minimum temperature 8C."
In the past few weeks, there has been increased solar activity - which is a sign that the sun is becoming more active, scientists say. Christopher Owen, professor of physics and head of Space Plasma Group at UCL, said: "In the measurements, we see an increase in the solar wind speed from about 400km per second yesterday around midnight to over 700km per second this morning.
"This faster solar wind will reach the Earth in the early evening of tomorrow."
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