How to See the Northern Lights from the UK

The Northern Lights or Aurorae Borealis are Sometimes Visible from the UK as far South as the Channel Islands. Find out When and Where to Look in 2026 and 2027.

Put away your passport! Cancel that trip to the Arctic Circle! You can see the Northern Lights from the UK when you know when and where to search for them.

 

Sometimes it starts with an innocuous glow across a north-facing horizon. A slow dance of ghostly shimmering beams, vague at first, but striking in your peripheral vision command more attention. Then, suddenly, splashes of colour with crimson reds, cherry pinks and emerald greens catch your eyes. Before you know it your sky is alive with a pastiche of everything you’ve heard a Northern Lights display to be.

 

These are the moments nearly every skywatcher or stargazer hanker for. But sightings of the Northern Lights in the UK are rare, although perhaps not as rare as you might imagine.

 

The Solar Wind Funnel and CMEs

 

Our Sun is the main driving force behind the aurorae borealis. Earth is constantly buffeted by a stream of charged particles flowing out from the Sun. Electrons and protons in this solar wind are mostly deflected around Earth thanks to our planet’s magnetosphere.

 

Some of the charged particles from this outflow however do get trapped by Earth’s magnetic field lines and funnel down towards the polar regions – Earth after all is essentially just one big giant bar magnet!

 

As the particles funnel lower towards the poles they collide with nitrogen and oxygen molecules in our upper atmosphere, throwing them into an excited energy state. Dissipation of excess energy from this interaction causes the molecules to glow and creates the colours that we see as the Northern Lights.

 

Our Sun is a thermonuclear reactor. It fuses more than 700 million tonnes of hydrogen into helium every second! It also rotates on its axis. Being essentially a huge sphere of hot plasma not all parts of the Sun rotate at the same speed. In fact it takes about 10 days longer for the Sun’s polar regions to rotate around its axis compared to its equatorial regions.

 

This rotational disparity means that the Sun’s magnetic field lines associated with all that hot plasma get twisted and distorted over time. Eventually these loops of magnetism snap under the strain ejecting plasma and charged particles out into the solar system. Should one of these coronal mass ejections or CMEs be directed towards Earth then there’s a high chance we’ll experience a geomagnetic storm.

 

Geomagnetic Storms and the Solar Cycle

 

CMEs accelerate the solar wind, loading it up with a higher density of electrons and protons. When they smash into Earth our magnetosphere distorts and compresses allowing more charged particles to accelerate down towards the polar regions and push out to lower latitudes, bringing the Northern Lights southwards.

 

The strength of these solar storms is measured using magnetometer data collected from observatories worldwide. A planetary index scale (Kp Scale or Kp Index) is used to determine the severity of a storm. Minor storms register as a 4 or 5 on the Kp index and won’t be visible from the UK. Major geomagnetic storms however, which register between Kp 7 and Kp 9 on the Planetary Index, will most likely result in an auroral display visible from northern parts of the UK and sometimes from the south of the British Isles.

 

How often the UK experiences a major solar storm is linked to the amount and potency of CMEs being thrown off the Sun. This in turn is governed by the solar cycle.

 

Like Earth the Sun is a giant bar magnet - but much, much bigger! After all you could fit more than 1,300,000 Earths inside the volume of our Sun.

 

Now remember that the Sun rotates faster at its equator than in the polar regions creating those distorted magnetic loops that can snap and send CMEs out into space. It is a process that builds over time. Year upon year those magnetic field lines get ever more tangled and confused through rotational disparity, snapping more often pushing out higher numbers of CMEs.

 

Eventually the Sun’s magnetic field lines get so twisted it causes a solar magnetic reversal. Magnetic north flips to magnetic south, and magnetic south switches to magnetic north. This upheaval adds further to CME activity, increasing the chances of Earth being hit by a big solar storm. It can take 2 – 3 years for the Sun to settle back down again and for CME activity to subside.

 

From observations we know the Sun flips its poles every 11 years or thereabouts. The point at which it does is known as solar maximum. The dip down in activity between when the Sun reaches its most settled and least twisted state is known as solar minimum.

 

2024 and into 2025 saw solar maximum. During the summer of 2025 the Sun’s poles flipped and so we remain in an unsettled phase in 2026 where solar activity is still high, and therefore we still have a good chance this year to see the Northern Lights from the UK. Expect maybe 2 or 3 major northern lights displays through 2026, with maybe a smattering of lesser storms.

 

In 2027 and 2028 we’ll likely see the Sun settle down with gradually fewer CMEs and therefore a reducing chance of catching the lights from lower latitudes. That said 1 or 2 major storms per year are still possible right through until the end of 2028, so keep your eyes to the skies!

 

How to see the Northern Lights from the UK

When a solar storm is on the go find an observing spot with a good view to your northern horizon. When I say ‘good’ I’m talking an open view with few obstructions such as tall trees or buildings, and a northern horizon that is relatively dark, so not overlooking town or city lights if possible.

 

You’ll need some clear sky – the northern lights can’t be seen if the sky is cloudy. Give yourself a good 5 to 10 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the dark. As long as you can see some stars with the naked eye you’ll be good to go.

 

Many northern lights displays start with a grey-green glow. If you’re familiar with your observing location on a standard clear night you’ll be familiar with the natural level of darkness that hangs over its northern horizon. If the light level seems elevated in this direction, so less dark than usual, you might have the beginnings of a display.

 

Moonlight will affect the view. If you have a full moon or near full moon you’ll still be able to see a northern lights display. It might just not be as obvious as when viewed on a moonless night, or on a night before the moon has risen or after it sets.

 

A really good way to check if you have an ongoing northern lights display is to use your phone camera or DSLR live view. Camera sensors are much more adept at picking up colour and light in dimly lit situations. Sometimes the aurorae borealis can be so dim to the naked eye that only a phone camera or DSLR will pick it up!

 

Set your phone camera to night mode and hold it steady to take a photo of your northern horizon. If you have a green and / or red glow with vertical stratification / beams going on then you’ve got yourself an image of the northern lights!