Northern Lights Dazzle Across Scotland, Ireland And South Through England

Monitoring Desk

ISLAMABAD/LONDON: Shimmering greens, pinks, and purples of the northern lights were visible in the night sky across Ireland and Britain on Sunday night in a display that reached Cornwall and as far south as Hertfordshire.

The light spectacle, known as the aurora, is usually most visible near the Earth’s magnetic south and north poles when fast-speed electrically-charged particles from space collide with gas molecules in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

That occurrence can be seen in the night sky over the United Kingdom (UK).

The Met Office forecast clear conditions across Britain for Sunday night, saying an aurora borealis “may be noticeable as far south as central England tonight where skies remain clear”, adding the lights likely to be seen again on the night.

Dozens of spectators shared their sightings across media and social media on Sunday, with few reporting seeing the spectacle as far south as Cornwall.

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

“Who needs the trip to Iceland when you see the northern lights from upper Wensleydale,” a person posted.

Another shared a snap purportedly from outside London. “Northern lights in St Albans, Hertfordshire, tonight. Unbelievable.”

The Met Office London later shared the series of snaps taken by sky-watchers on the Scottish island of North Uist, the town of Llysfaen on the north coast of Wales, and Shropshire and Cambridgeshire in England.

“A coronal hole fast speed stream arrived in the evening previous day combined with a rather high coronal mass ejection leading to aurora sightings across the United Kingdom,” the forecaster said at a tweet after midnight.

One person account with the Twitter handle Cornwall Skies shared an image of what appeared to be an illuminated night sky.

Northern aurora lights

“Looking north light tonight in east Cornwall. There are no towns causing light pollution nearby to the north, just Bodmin Moor,” it said. “We’re also a ‘dark sky’ area, I think this could be the northern aurora lights.”