The Met Office has issued an update after a Geomagnetic Storm Watch alert was triggered
The Met Office has issued an update after a Geomagnetic Storm Watch alert was triggered
The Met Office has issued an update after a Geomagnetic Storm Watch alert was triggered. This means parts of the UK could have a chance to spot the Northern Lights.
Space weather describes changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space. Magnetic fields, radiation, particles and matter, which have been ejected from the Sun.
The geomagnetic storm has been active from 6pm this evening. It is expected to last until 6pm tomorrow. A geomagnetic sudden impulse was also in force from 5.25pm to 5.55pm.
The Met office has explained the Northern Lights could be visible after the arrival of a Coronal Mass Ejection tonight. The forecasting agency said: “The aurora is expected to be at normal background levels until the arrival of a Coronal Mass Ejection, most likely later on Tuesday UTC (Apr 15) and continuing into Wednesday (Apr 16).
“This is likely to bring the auroral oval to northern parts of the UK and similar geomagnetic latitudes, with a chance of some visibility towards the northern horizon for much of England.
“However, cloud cover over much of the UK will limit aurora viewings. The auroral oval will ease to background levels thereafter.”
The geomagnetic activity is at its peak now until 12am so this is when the aurora could be most visible. However, cloud cover is likely to limit the Northern Lights’ visibility.
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s atmosphere — the corona.
CMEs can wreak havoc with power grids, telecommunication networks and orbiting satellites and expose astronauts to dangerous doses of radiation.
However, they offer sky watchers spectacular sights worldwide as they can trigger impressive aurora displays that are visible at latitudes beyond their “normal” polar range.
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