Aurora Viewing

[peden202]

Hi All,

A very newbie question but...

Is there anywhere in the UK I could visit to see Aurora?

A friend sent me a link to the Aurora Night at Kielder Observatory. I realise there are no guarantees but still seems like it would be fun.

I just wondered if anyone know of any other Aurora Night style events and where they were at.

Thanks in Advance

[Kp6]

Simple rule of thumb is the further north you can travel the greater the chance of catching a display.

To have any chance of seeing something on british soil you really need to head to the far north, beyond Wick. Obviously the weather up there tends to be rather poor for aurora viewing on average so a second recommendation would be east of the cairngorms and north of Aberdeen where there are many more clear nights on average.

The best time of the year to do it would be anytime between August and April as the nights are longer. If you can go holidaying at short notice then this 27 day forecast indicates when solar/geomagnetic activity might pep up enabling you to go when the chances of auroral activity are higher. http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/weekly/27DO.txt

10.7 flux is a simple measure of activity on the sun, 80 is low and 120+ is high. KP index is a measure of earth effects (aurora). 3 is sufficent enough to see aurora from the far north of the UK, 6 is required to see aurora from Kiedler.