The Northern Lights, also known as the aurora borealis, are set to be visible across a large portion of the UK tonight thanks to a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun.
As 2024 draws to a close this evening, millions of Britons will have their eyes to the skies in search of fireworks. But any New Year's Eve displays will pale in comparison to nature's greatest light show. The Northern Lights will be visible across huge parts of the UK tonight, the Met Office has revealed. The lights, also known as the aurora borealis , are set to appear as a huge coronal mass ejection ( CME ) strikes Earth.
Usually, the Northern Lights are only seen in the auroral oval - a ring of light that encircles the polar caps. However, the Met Office predicts that they could be visible much further south this evening. 'The auroral oval is likely to remain at background levels initially,' it explained. 'However, from 31 Dec, a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is forecast to arrive at Earth with a risk of G1-G2/Minor-Moderate geomagnetic storms which could produce visible aurora across Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England.' The Northern Lights will be visible across huge parts of the UK tonight, the Met Office has revealed. Pictured: The Northern Lights over Portobello, near Edinburgh, in October In terms of timings, the Met Office predicts that the Northern Lights will peak over the UK at around 21:00, although they may still be visible through until about 03:00 tomorrow morning The sun is at the maximum phase of its 11-year cycle, making solar surges and northern lights more frequent. Over the last 24 hours alone, numerous coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have been observed leaving the solar surface. 'Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona,' the NOAA explained. 'CMEs travel outward from the Sun at speeds ranging from slower than 250 kilometers per second (km/s) to as fast as near 3000 km/s. 'The fastest Earth-directed CMEs can reach our planet in as little as 15-18 hours. 'Slower CMEs can take several days to arriv
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