The northern lights will be visible in London tonight – here’s what time to catch the stunning aurora borealis

11 Oct 2024, 11:14 by India Lawrence · Time Out London

It’s the phenomenon that keeps on giving. The aurora borealis, AKA the northern lights, made another appearance in London last night (October 10), and it could return tonight (October 11) as well.

Seeing the lights in London is pretty rare, so you don’t want to miss this. Want to catch them for yourself? Here’s all the information about seeing the northern lights in London tonight and this weekend.

What time to look for the northern lights in London

There isn’t a confirmed time to see the aurora in London tonight. Your best bet is to keep checking the AuroraWatch website, which will set off an alert if the lights are close or bright. You can set up an alert on your smartphone via the app, or on social media sites including Facebook, X and Telegram.

The best way to see the aurora borealis

The best way to see the northern lights is after sundown, in an open space without too much light pollution. In London, this could be a park. The best sightings are when the skies are darkest, which is normally around midnight. Last night (October 10), the lights were spotted from Ally Pally and Hyde Park.

Allow 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the night sky.

Where else will the aurora be visible in the UK tonight?

The Met Office had said the best chance of seeing the display tonight would be in Scotland and Northern Ireland with possible sightings in the north of England and the Midlands.

How to take a photo

Once you have your clear night sky with a view of the aurora, the Met Office recommends placing your camera or smart phone in a tripod, facing up to the sky. Use a wide-angle lens to get as much of the sky as possible, and a remote shutter release or self timer will stop movement when you make your exposure.

If you’re using a proper camera, the Met Office suggests playing around with the exposure. ‘As a starting point, try setting your camera’s ISO to 1600 or 3200, an aperture of f/2.8 or f/4 and try a shutter speed of 8 to 15 seconds, depending on the brightness of the auroras,’ it says.

What are the northern lights?

The northern lights are a bright display of colourful lights in the sky that generally appear in high latitude regions such as the Arctic or Scandinavia. They are caused by are caused by charged particles from the sun hitting gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Why do we see them?

The particles hit our atmosphere at high speed and combine with oxygen and nitrogen to create a multicoloured burst. A green glow is associated with oxygen while nitrogen causes the appearance of purple, blue and pink.

When will the northern lights next be visible?

The UK is currently seeing an increased amount of borealis activity – and the past few days have been even more proof of that. That said, the chance to see this wonder of nature doesn’t come around too often and the lights are notoriously hard to predict.

Tonight will hopefully be when they appear again, but you should keep updated on AuroraWatch to make sure.

More solar activity: The 13 best places to go stargazing in the UK.

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