Northern Lights ‘red alert’ issued for Scots TONIGHT- how to spot spectacular phenomena

SCOTTISH skies could be lit up tonight by the Northern Lights as skygazers issue a ‘red alert’.

Over the last few months, Scots have been lucky enough to catch glimpses of the stunning celestial spectacle – and tonight they could be in for another treat.

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Shades of bright pink and green are set to illuminate the night sky in as solar particles react with the Earth‘s atmosphere.

An extremely rare sighting, Aurora hunters travel the world to places like Iceland in the hopes they will behold the natural phenomenon.

Caused by a geomagnetic storm where solar wind shock waves hit the Earth, the lights appear when the sun ejects radiation known as Coronal Mass Ejections (CME).

And tonight, Aurora Watch UK issued a ‘red alert’ to give punters a heads up that spotting the Northern Lights tonight is ‘likely’.

The skywatchers wrote on Telegram: “Possibility of aurora later if geomagnetic activity persists. When dark check the current activity.”

Where can I see the Northern Lights?

The best places to catch an Aurora in Scotland are in northern and darker places in Scotland.

Areas with less light pollution and less cloud cover are ideal for spotting one.

Earlier this week, stargazing Scots were treated to a double celestial special as the northern lights and a rare meteor shower lit up the sky.

People across the country were left in awe on Monday night as they got to see the rare dual events.

Over 100 shooting stars from the Perseid meteor shower zoomed across the skies every hour last night.

The spectacle has been described as “one of the most dramatic things to see in the night sky” by weather boffins.

The shower is caused by debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle burning up as it hits the atmosphere.

And the galactic spectacle was at its peak on Monday with scores of burning space rocks flying across the sky.

But the meteor shower’s peak across Scotland also coincided with a chance to see the northern lights.

NASA scientists have warned of a hidden dark side to the dazzling Northern Lights.

The visual phenomena, also called Aurora Borealis, can cause long term damage to critical infrastructure at ground level.

The impact of Aurora on Earth’s electrical grid and satellites during big geomagnetic storms has long been documented.

But Nasa scientists have now revealed that the electrical currents associated with geomagnetic storms can damage natural gas pipelines and subsea cables.

Writing in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, Nasa scientists have warned that Northern Lights are quietly reducing the lifetime of pipelines that supply homes with heating and electricity globally.

Aurora can damage any form of infrastructure that conducts electricity on Earth, according to the new research paper.

While more powerful shocks mean more powerful currents and vivid auroras, frequent and less powerful shocks can also do damage.

“Auroras and geomagnetically induced currents are caused by similar space weather drivers,” Dr Denny Oliveira of Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, lead author of the article, explained.

“The aurora is a visual warning that indicates that electric currents in space can generate these geomagnetically induced currents on the ground.”

The risk of damage to core infrastructure is heightened during severe geomagnetic storms.

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