Northern Lights visible off UK coast and could be again tonight
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The northern lights could create a spectacular summer sky tonight and we can't wait.
How do we know? Well, the auroras were spotted off the Norfolk coast in the early house of this morning, 8 August, and could well do the same again tonight.
Great to have another visit from the Northern Lights, aka Aurora Borealis here at Brancaster Staithe in North Norfolk early this morning between 1230am and 1250am @ChrisPage90 @WeatherAisling @AngliaWeather @itvweather pic.twitter.com/DaMS89kSn4
— Gary Pearson (@GPearsonJPEGs) August 8, 2022
Now, we know the hot weather has its downsides, there was a point when we were laying on the kitchen floor because it was the only cool spot in the house, but, one perk is that the sky is clear enough to see the incredible auroras.
As stargazers noticed this morning when they were greeted by yellows, green and purple ribbons of light cutting through the sky.
For those of you wondering what causes the incredible phenomena, according to the Met Office: "The northern lights occur as a consequence of solar activity and result from collisions of charged particles in the solar wind colliding with molecules in the Earth's upper atmosphere."
The Met Office also revealed the best conditions to spot them tonight.
In incredible stroke of luck, they were even visible to the naked eye, with Gary Pearson, a talented natural photographer saying: "You could see the pillars and the greens of the aurora clearly with the naked eye once adjusted to the dark last night.
"The other colours were picked up on camera due to the camera's long exposure recording what your eyes can't see, and, because of that, cameras are always able to capture the colours far more vividly."
Gary explained that it's tricky to capture the natural phenomena on camera.
He said: "To photograph them you really need a camera on a tripod that can be set to take a long exposure of say 20 or 30 seconds, but I have seen quite a few photos of Monday's [aurora] taken with mobile phones."
Don't worry if you did miss the incredible display yesterday, because the lights might be visible tonight too if the weather conditions stay clear.
The Met Office noted that: "The best conditions to view the lights are when the sky is dark and clear of any clouds."
Here's hoping for a clear summer night and some spectacular lights.
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