Brits may get another glimpse of the Northern Lights this week as a geomagnetic storm heads towards earth.
The lights could be visible as early as tonight, with the Met Office confirming the possibility of auroral displays.
But the light displays will be limited to certain areas in the UK.
The Met Office said: ‘Two Coronal Mass Ejections feature in the forecast, giving a peak chance of Strong Geomagnetic Storm (G3) conditions on Wednesday 24 July.
‘This may result in auroral displays down to Northern Ireland, northern England and similar geomagnetic latitudes, albeit impeded by the near-full moon and limited hours of darkness.’
SpaceWeatherLive predicts a Level 6 storm, which zero being the lowest and nine being the highest.
In May the aurora lights were visible for the first time across the UK in 20 years, even visible over the London’s light pollution.
Sightings are most likely in northern Scotland and Northern Ireland, it said, with a slight chance of catching them in northern England or north Wales.
On May 10, impressive aurora displays were recorded across the country, including Whitley Bay on the north east coast, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Wokingham in Berkshire.
Aurora displays happen when charged particles beamed out from sunspots collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.
Activity usually occurs in the northern hemisphere, but when it’s strong it can cover a larger area and therefore seen further south.
Solar flares caused the spectacular lights in May, which can cause radio blackouts in the UK.
Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Warwick, Ravindra Desai, explained that while the active region of the Sun is now rotated away from the Earth, energetic particles from the flare ‘can still reach the Earth and cause radio blackouts and damage to orbiting satellites’.
Dr Desai added, ‘It important to note that active region 3664 may persist for two weeks or longer and therefore will once again be oriented towards the Earth. So in two weeks there is an elevated chance of further major geomagnetic storms and aurora over the UK’.
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