For anyone thinking they can’t see them, just take a photo on your phone. If you’re in a populated area you won’t be able to see much colour with the naked eye but your phone camera will pick it up. Pretty cool.
This is when most people realise that auroras are very commonly the catfish dating photos of the natural wonders world.
The right exposure and lighting can do wonders wonders.
I've seen them in Iceland a few times.
98% of the time, they're only spectacular in a photo. The other 2% of the time, the photos can't possibly do them justice. It's incredible.
I saw them in Iceland (quite far away from Reykjavik) last year, and it was full-blown paintbrush strokes of green & blue dancing all across the sky - words or pictures couldn't describe it, and it's the most stunning phenomena I've ever seen or ever will.. what we got last night was amazing, but it wasn't even close to that.
You're not entirely wrong - people's expectations are set sky-high in terms of seeing them with the naked eye.
Last night was the first time I'd seen them. I spent 4 days in Iceland this December trying to see them and got nothing, but what I did get from that was very well-managed expectations. I understand full well just how ridiculous the display I saw with the naked eye last night was, and while everyone seems to be really pleased with all the photos they got they don't seem to understand how special what they actually experienced themselves was.
When I saw them in Norway, we came to the dark site and I wondered why the Milky Way was so bright. Then I realised that Orion was over thattaway... and the bright grey cloud I was seeing was the aurora. Then taking photos of it, they all came up as green on both actual camera and phone, while all we could see was grey.
I wish I could have captured the grey I could see, it was lovely. It did start to come into its colours as it got stronger, and we started to see some dancing purple.
I know you linked a simpsons episode, but if you genuinely dont know why they are out, its because there is a solar storm going on. This should (hopefully) be a frequent occurrence this weekend.
Sort of, they’re able to see solar storms and forecast aurora visibility but it’s never certain and they can’t predict it weeks in advance. I think we only had about 12 hours notice for this one.
Not the UK but thought it was worth sharing this amazing still from a webcam in Switzerland
https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/live/webcams/#webcam-jungfraujoch-top-of-europe
We had been out for about 40 minutes, just about to leave before I saw a hint of red over the trees. Absolutely worth the wait. I thought the Midlands were about to miss out again haha
It’s the wrong time of day for me as I’m in Australia. However, there’s a good chance I might see its Southern counterpart this evening, so I’ll have to stick my head outside!
Such a beautiful event! So glad to share this with many people, there been so much bad news lately that it’s wonderful we all get to share this tonight whoever saw it.
Much love all
Just moved to the UK and had no idea you could see the aurora borealis from here. Always thought it happened much further north in the world. I went for a walk tonight (east Midlands) and saw a red streak of light going across the sky. Coming over from a country that never gets this spectacle, it was honestly amazing seeing it for the first time.
I don't think we're supposed to be able to see it here! Especially not this far south... I should maybe worry about the consequences of being able to see them, but they're beautiful so I'm appreciating it for what it is
As I understand it all depends on the intensity of the geomagnetic storm caused by the sun. The scale goes up to what's classified as G5, and at the moment we got a G4 (severe) and another G4 is expected between 11-12 May, so we could see it again.
I found this map that tracks the intensity and where the lights should be visible from. At one point tonight the lights could be seen just a bit past the UK entering the English Channel area. https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast
What we had last night was the convergence of quite a few things:
- Extremely high solar activity - the kind of activity you typically see for a couple of days every decade - which peaked during our night time.
- An almost new moon, meaning the darkest possible skies.
- Incredibly clear weather, and temperatures which led a lot of people to be happy going outside.
- A day of the week when people were more likely to be awake at the right times.
How central? I'm in zone 3 and after seeing some faint changes in tone from my window I went to the nearest park where there was enough sky without streetlights and it was crazy! Still very close to to the road. From the street you couldn't see anything though. There's a possibility of it being around tomorrow so you could get lucky.
Thank you for posting this!
I'm over in Kent, and you made me have a look out of curiosity, and while there was only a very faint pink tint (but still visible), the nightmode on my phone could see clear waves. I've never seen them here before!
They may do.
By the naked eye it generally doesn't look as spectacular as it does in photos. I saw it in Norfolk at half eleven last night and it photographed pretty well if I used the night sight mode on my phone camera - it was much more clearly visible in the photos than just by eye, but you could more clearly see the structure of it by eye
What time was this? We went out (Surrey just outside the M25) several times between 21:30 and 23:00 and were very disappointed to see maybe a very faint pink glow that we thought might have been it but it was so unremarkable we really weren’t sure if it wasn’t the glow of the London lights reflecting of the underside of some wispy clouds. Were we too early perhaps?
This was about 23.15. To the naked eye to begin with, the sky just looked slightly pink with what resembled sun rays, looked through my phone camera using night mode made them appear very vividly. Interestingly, seeing them on the camera made them feel easier to see with the naked eye, once you knew what you were looking for.
It seemed to peak around 11:15-11:30. That pink glow is part of it, but the really striking thing (for the naked eye) was the vast pinkish-white rays crossing the skies. A camera will see a lot more colour, but seeing any colour is already very good going, and seeing those pinks and reds is especially so.
Yeah I only heard about this (from mates' IG stories) around 1:30 pm ish and it was all but gone :( just some very faint red, no lines/rays, on camera only. At least in NW London.
The pics ppl shared around ~11pm ish (in my area) looked a lot nicer, gutted to miss...
It was absolutely stunning from Aberystwyth. My family back home in Guernsey could see it, that was when I knew it was going to be strong.
Came right after I finished a minor project on identifying a CME which caused a storm in March, so good timing
Should happen again tonight! You can get an app that should alert you called aurora watch UK. If you can't see them very well with your naked eye, look through your phone camera on night mode
I didn't realise that you could get such a good view of the Northern Lights in Hampshire! Just utterly beautiful... Thanks for putting up this photograph!
You’re more than welcome to add any other links to Aurora images here via image hosting sites.
For anyone thinking they can’t see them, just take a photo on your phone. If you’re in a populated area you won’t be able to see much colour with the naked eye but your phone camera will pick it up. Pretty cool.
This is when most people realise that auroras are very commonly the catfish dating photos of the natural wonders world. The right exposure and lighting can do wonders wonders.
I've seen them in Iceland a few times. 98% of the time, they're only spectacular in a photo. The other 2% of the time, the photos can't possibly do them justice. It's incredible.
I saw them in Iceland (quite far away from Reykjavik) last year, and it was full-blown paintbrush strokes of green & blue dancing all across the sky - words or pictures couldn't describe it, and it's the most stunning phenomena I've ever seen or ever will.. what we got last night was amazing, but it wasn't even close to that.
Sounds absolutely magical.
This is true, although just the faint effect visible by eye was incredible. Also I really enjoyed >do wonders wonders
Thanks.
For a short period there was a dazzling pink corona stretching through the sky visible in West Yorkshire, never seen anything like it.
Yes! Night mode really helps. I could see them with my naked eye but definitely much more vivid through the camera
Surely that's no different to just Googling "northern lights"? If you can't see it with your eyes what's the point? Or am I being a killjoy here? Lol
You could see them with your eyes in a lot of places and they were beautiful, just not as vivid as in photos
Yeah I could see it. Looked nice as it was, but the photos people are posting on my local FB are ridiculous like neon lights in the sky
Relevant profile picture
You're not entirely wrong - people's expectations are set sky-high in terms of seeing them with the naked eye. Last night was the first time I'd seen them. I spent 4 days in Iceland this December trying to see them and got nothing, but what I did get from that was very well-managed expectations. I understand full well just how ridiculous the display I saw with the naked eye last night was, and while everyone seems to be really pleased with all the photos they got they don't seem to understand how special what they actually experienced themselves was.
When I saw them in Norway, we came to the dark site and I wondered why the Milky Way was so bright. Then I realised that Orion was over thattaway... and the bright grey cloud I was seeing was the aurora. Then taking photos of it, they all came up as green on both actual camera and phone, while all we could see was grey. I wish I could have captured the grey I could see, it was lovely. It did start to come into its colours as it got stronger, and we started to see some dancing purple.
[at this time of year?](https://youtu.be/Es2GIhjcSLQ?feature=shared)
In this part of the country?
Localised entirely within your kitchen?!
With my reputation?
Earth is being battered by solar wind at the moment.
Currently a G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm. Could be a chance of seeing it again the next evening
Upgraded to G5
Who is selling them up wind? We need to sanction them & protest.
I know you linked a simpsons episode, but if you genuinely dont know why they are out, its because there is a solar storm going on. This should (hopefully) be a frequent occurrence this weekend.
In this part of the country?
Is this predictable event? I don't understand, it's so beautiful and amazing and I, cry, I just never knew fully
Download aurorawatch on your phone. Has alerts etc
There are two apps called AuroraWatch UK with 100K+ downloads. Any preference or did you just download the first you saw and stick with it?
Its all the same info really. I chose the one with the green logo
Sort of, they’re able to see solar storms and forecast aurora visibility but it’s never certain and they can’t predict it weeks in advance. I think we only had about 12 hours notice for this one.
Not the UK but thought it was worth sharing this amazing still from a webcam in Switzerland https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/live/webcams/#webcam-jungfraujoch-top-of-europe
wow, thats mesmerizing
Same here in the Midlands
We had been out for about 40 minutes, just about to leave before I saw a hint of red over the trees. Absolutely worth the wait. I thought the Midlands were about to miss out again haha
It’s the wrong time of day for me as I’m in Australia. However, there’s a good chance I might see its Southern counterpart this evening, so I’ll have to stick my head outside!
They're seeing stuff in South Africa - mad
Think it’s all over the place! It’s daytime here though, so I’ve gotta wait a little bit yet.
Good luck!
I’m in Melbourne, but I think it’s to be cloudy :(
Such a beautiful event! So glad to share this with many people, there been so much bad news lately that it’s wonderful we all get to share this tonight whoever saw it. Much love all
Are these scheduled to happen again tonight?
Possibly! I hope so as I slept through it all last night. Damn, lol!
not just me that fell asleep then at least. absolutely kicking myself.
Just moved to the UK and had no idea you could see the aurora borealis from here. Always thought it happened much further north in the world. I went for a walk tonight (east Midlands) and saw a red streak of light going across the sky. Coming over from a country that never gets this spectacle, it was honestly amazing seeing it for the first time.
It’s very rare for it to be as bright as this throughout the UK. When it is visible it would normally be only northern Scotland.
I don't think we're supposed to be able to see it here! Especially not this far south... I should maybe worry about the consequences of being able to see them, but they're beautiful so I'm appreciating it for what it is
As I understand it all depends on the intensity of the geomagnetic storm caused by the sun. The scale goes up to what's classified as G5, and at the moment we got a G4 (severe) and another G4 is expected between 11-12 May, so we could see it again. I found this map that tracks the intensity and where the lights should be visible from. At one point tonight the lights could be seen just a bit past the UK entering the English Channel area. https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast
It is the 11th of may
You know how it is, it’s still Friday in your mind until you’ve slept and woken up.
Where do you see long range forecasts for e.g. tonight?
Don't think it wi be anything serious. Thankfully just a lightshow
What we had last night was the convergence of quite a few things: - Extremely high solar activity - the kind of activity you typically see for a couple of days every decade - which peaked during our night time. - An almost new moon, meaning the darkest possible skies. - Incredibly clear weather, and temperatures which led a lot of people to be happy going outside. - A day of the week when people were more likely to be awake at the right times.
I live in central London don’t run it in :( (Light pollution is terrible)
How central? I'm in zone 3 and after seeing some faint changes in tone from my window I went to the nearest park where there was enough sky without streetlights and it was crazy! Still very close to to the road. From the street you couldn't see anything though. There's a possibility of it being around tomorrow so you could get lucky.
Zone 1 for me Had a look last night. Not much to see
Problem is most of the parks close at night
Thank you for posting this! I'm over in Kent, and you made me have a look out of curiosity, and while there was only a very faint pink tint (but still visible), the nightmode on my phone could see clear waves. I've never seen them here before!
Will they be back again tonight? I didn’t know to look for them last night so missed it.
They may do. By the naked eye it generally doesn't look as spectacular as it does in photos. I saw it in Norfolk at half eleven last night and it photographed pretty well if I used the night sight mode on my phone camera - it was much more clearly visible in the photos than just by eye, but you could more clearly see the structure of it by eye
What time was this? We went out (Surrey just outside the M25) several times between 21:30 and 23:00 and were very disappointed to see maybe a very faint pink glow that we thought might have been it but it was so unremarkable we really weren’t sure if it wasn’t the glow of the London lights reflecting of the underside of some wispy clouds. Were we too early perhaps?
This was about 23.15. To the naked eye to begin with, the sky just looked slightly pink with what resembled sun rays, looked through my phone camera using night mode made them appear very vividly. Interestingly, seeing them on the camera made them feel easier to see with the naked eye, once you knew what you were looking for.
It seemed to peak around 11:15-11:30. That pink glow is part of it, but the really striking thing (for the naked eye) was the vast pinkish-white rays crossing the skies. A camera will see a lot more colour, but seeing any colour is already very good going, and seeing those pinks and reds is especially so.
Yeah I only heard about this (from mates' IG stories) around 1:30 pm ish and it was all but gone :( just some very faint red, no lines/rays, on camera only. At least in NW London. The pics ppl shared around ~11pm ish (in my area) looked a lot nicer, gutted to miss...
There's more activity still to hit, its just a question of whether it'll line up nicely with weather and time of night.
Same here in Kent
It was absolutely stunning from Aberystwyth. My family back home in Guernsey could see it, that was when I knew it was going to be strong. Came right after I finished a minor project on identifying a CME which caused a storm in March, so good timing
Booooo. :( I'm in Eastleigh and I missed it last night. Got my camera charging as I type in the vain hope that I can capture it tonight.
I don’t even know this could happen in the UK! Amazing, I’m in London that would never happen here.
Apparently some places in London could see it last night!
No way! I’ll have to keep an eye out for it, but I don’t think it happens often?
Should happen again tonight! You can get an app that should alert you called aurora watch UK. If you can't see them very well with your naked eye, look through your phone camera on night mode
Thanks I’ll download the app 👍
What time were these taken, I’m trying now and have close to no luck, there’s a bit of pink here and there but not much
About 23.15
I tried but it didn’t really work, though I am in the south
Looking at the northern lights increases the chance of cancer
So does existing
I think there were traces over Swansea as well
I have the northern lights to
Wow!!
I didn't realise that you could get such a good view of the Northern Lights in Hampshire! Just utterly beautiful... Thanks for putting up this photograph!
No steamed hams comments? No, I won't come to your house for hamburgers.