Northern lights: The best pictures of the aurora taken across the UK

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are flickering shows of inexperienced and crimson gentle within the evening sky, as seen on this picture taken from a viewing level overlooking the city of Fort William within the west of Scotland on 26 February.

They are generated when bursts of photo voltaic wind – a stream of charged particles expelled from the outer layer of the solar – collide with Earth’s magnetic area. While this area often deflects a lot of the particles, it’s weaker across the poles, the place particles can penetrate the higher ambiance and strike fuel molecules. These molecules achieve after which lose power within the type of gentle particles, or photons, releasing tiny flashes of sunshine that mix to fill the sky with swirling patterns of color.

In the previous couple of days, magnetic disturbances within the solar’s higher ambiance have brought about an enormous expulsion of electrically charged particles, in an occasion often called a coronal mass ejection. Together with an particularly high-speed photo voltaic wind, aurorae have reached places equivalent to Anglesey in north Wales and Dorset within the south of England.

There could also be one final probability tonight to see the northern lights attributable to the current coronal mass ejection within the far north of Scotland, maybe close to the coastal village of Hopeman, the place gorgeous photos had been taken on 26 February. But the aurorae gained’t be seen as far south as in current days as a result of the solar’s exercise is easing.

If you missed the current spectacle, one of the best locations to hunt out the northern lights embrace Stockholm in Sweden, the place these mesmerising inexperienced aurorae had been captured over town on 27 February. Other good locations to view the aurorae embrace Iceland, southern components of Greenland and northern components of Finland, Norway, Canada and Alaska.