Northern Lights visible in UK skies tonight: NASA reports huge solar flares causing aurora borealis and radio blackouts

The Northern Lights could be visible in UK skies this week - thanks to a number of huge solar flares deep in space. Space agency NASA reported a trio of eruptions from the Sun this week - and warned they are causing radio blackouts across the globe.

However, on a positive note for night watchers, the Met Office said the solar activity might mean people in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England get a sighting of aurora borealis on Thursday night (June 4).

"The auroral oval is likely to become active later on Thursday evening, with aurora likely to be visible Scotland and Northern Ireland, and a slight chance of sightings from northern England, in response to a potential geomagnetic storm," the Met Office said. The stunning phenomena might also still be visible on Friday, they added.

It comes after NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft, which watches the Sun constantly, captured images of one of the three flares on Wednesday (June 3).

"Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts," a spokesperson said. "This flare is classified as an X1.0 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength."

Such flares can produce Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CME), a massive burst of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun’s corona, the outermost part of its atmosphere. As well as unwanted disruption, they can also produce spectacular displays of aurora.

The US government’s Space Weather Predication Centre said a strong geomagnetic storm watch is in effect for Thursday and Friday, with three CMEs expected to interact with Earth. "CMEs are likely to interact with Earth and, dependent upon the orientation of the embedded magnetic field, bring Strong Storm levels," they added.