This evening stargazers will be able to grab a glimpse at the Northern Lights as the impressive celestial event dazzles above Scotland.
For two nights in a row, Thursday, March 30 and Friday, March 31 the Aurora Borealis will be visible as solar winds race towards Earth.
The winds are expected to race at around 800km (nearly 500 miles) per second and with clear skies, it's said to be perfect conditions to see the lights.
According to the Met Office, the lights will be best viewed away from any light pollution, in remote areas, facing the northern horizon.
It comes just a month after much of Britain was treated to a spectacular show when the Aurora Borealis was visible as far south as Kent and Cornwall.
Recently, Scotland was also able to see a colourful spectacle in the sky as a solar flare from the Sun collided with the Earth’s atmosphere.
However a separate event, a fast solar wind from a coronal hole, means minor solar storms are possible on Thursday and Friday night. This means aurora sightings would be possible in northern Scotland under clear skies. Space Weather forecast is here 👇https://t.co/h3j6WqzHYZ
— Met Office Space (@MetOfficeSpace) March 29, 2023
Northern Lights to be visible across Scotland
The Northern Lights' upcoming display will be a result of a “hole” that has appeared on the surface of the Sun, generating solar storms with winds heading towards Earth.
Krista Hammond, of the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre, said: “Minor solar storms are possible on Thursday and Friday night, which means aurora sightings would be possible in northern Scotland under clear skies.
“As this is a fairly minor solar storm, the auroras aren’t expected to be visible much further south on this occasion.”
The hole in the Sun is known as a coronal hole, a large dark region in the solar atmosphere which is cooler than the surrounding area.
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.
☀ An X-Class solar flare was spotted leaving the Sun this morning. The associated coronal mass ejection will miss the Earth, but this flare looks mesmerising in imagery! pic.twitter.com/4uZWDgP5UE
— Met Office Space (@MetOfficeSpace) March 29, 2023
“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.”
While solar storms have the capability to wreak havoc on satellites and power infrastructure, forecasters are not expecting any major damage to occur as it is a minor one.
Increased solar activity in the past few weeks is a sign that the Sun is becoming more active, scientists say.
Known as solar maximums, these periods come around every 11 years or so which can lead to more coronal holes as well as more significant phenomena such as large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field known as coronal mass ejections.
