It’s already been a huge year for British stargazers. From a once-in-a-decade peak for the northern lights, to meteor showers, to classic old clear night skies, there’s been a look to sink your telescope into; and 2025’s celestial displays are showing no signs of slowing down.
Romantics of the world will be pleased to hear that not only are we in Britain are due another glimpse of the aurora borealis this week, it’s set to be at its brightest on Valentine’s Day. Yep, this Friday February 14 you can plan the Valentine's Day of a lifetime.
As always, you do have to put a little bit of effort in if you want a good view of the sky. The northern lights occur because of solar storms which have hit the Earth’s atmosphere, meaning that they’re generally only observable from higher altitudes in places such as Greenland, Iceland, and the Arctic Circle, so heading as far north as you can – and for the southerners among us that means even further than Manchester – is a good bet.
If you aren’t in a place to drive up to Aberdeenshire, here’s how you can maximise your chances of seeing the dancing night lights on Friday.
RECOMMENDED: How to maximise your chances of seeing the northern lights in the UK.
What are the northern lights?
The aurora borealis is a result of a complex chemical reaction in the Earth’s atmosphere. In terms that us non-physicists can understand, charged particles from the sun, caused by increased solar activity, hit molecules in our atmosphere at about 1 million miles per hour. For us lot on the Earth’s surface, this occurrence looks like colourful lights shimmering in the sky. Pretty cool, huh?
Although usually the lights can only be seen from very far north, according to the Met Office ‘the arrival of a Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) from the Sun can cause the annulus to expand, bringing the aurora to lower latitudes’. In other words, if there’s a higher than usual amount of particles hitting our planet, or they hit at a faster speed, the area on land which gets treated to the Aurora expands southward slightly, and sometimes even makes it to the UK.
How to see the northern lights in the UK
If you’re really serious about seeing the lights, the experts recommend you heading to northern Scotland. This Friday the phenomenon is less likely to be seen in England or Wales than it has been in previous times, but never say never.
Once you’re as close to the Shetlands as you can possibly get, you’ll want to find somewhere dark, with minimal light pollution. Think fields, hills, or big parks far from a city. Give your eyes 15 minutes to adjust before trying to look up.
Also, keep an eye on the Aurorawatch X (formerly Twitter) feed. The account does exactly what it says on the tin – keeps watch across the globe for high levels of solar interactivity. You want a red or amber alert for the area you’re in. If it’s cloudy and there’s no alert to be seen, we hate to say it, but it might be time to give up on the Valentines-Aurora dream.
What’s the best time to see the aurora?
Aim to catch the sky at its absolute darkest, which usually occurs around midnight. Anytime between sunset and sunrise is technically okay, but as a general rule the higher the moon is, the better your chances.
Why are there different coloured northern lights?
Depending on the types of molecules, and therefore the chemical makeup of a given solar storm, the presentation of the lights on Earth can be different – this is why sometimes you see photos of the borealis as green and blue streaks, and other times they look more pinky-purple. Oxygen can glow either red or green, and Nitrogen appears either blue or purple.
When will the northern lights be visible again?
You might be feeling like there’s been a lot of ‘one in a lifetime’ opportunities to see the lights in the past year, but that is because this has been an incredibly unusual and active time for the auroras. This means that there will likely be some more before the end of the ‘aurora season’, which runs from September to mid-March.
In short, keep checking the Aurorawatch UK website for the most up to date predictions.
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