Northern Lights to be visible across Scotland again tonight due to 'solar storm'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Northern Lights will set Scotland's skies aglow this week after stunning displays were spotted last night.You don’t have to travel to Iceland or Alaska to see one of the most stunning natural displays in the world as experts at the Met Office is predicting "enhanced auroral displays" over the next few days.It comes after skygazers in Scotland were treated to breathtaking green, pink and purple aurora borealis on Monday night thanks to increased solar activity and clear skies.

Northern Lights across Scotland from Edinburgh to Skye captured in stunning photos The Met Office said the display this week is due to a coronal mass ejection (CME) - a huge expulsion of plasma from the sun's outer layer.

Defined as a type of 'solar storm', this particular CME left the sun on Saturday, September 16 and hit the Earth's system of magnetic fields, causing the aurora.According to the Met Office, the aurora will be visible on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night this week for those who missed out on last night's atmospheric light show."The coming three-day period is likely to see some enhanced auroral displays at high geomagnetic latitudes, with aurora perhaps visible overhead for northern Scotland to start Tuesday following recent CME (coronal mass ejection) arrival," forecasters said."Activity could extend overnight into early Wednesday, though conditions unfortunately look unfavourable for prolonged clear skies for most regions at present."The display should be visible across Scotland and even as far south as northern England, however, cloud could possible obstruct clear views of it The aurora process begins after solar flares – eruptions on the sun – blast billions of tons of radiation out into space.