Aurora chasers were treated to displays of the Northern Lights and Southern Lights on Sunday 1 June 2025, and the displays could continue into tonight.
The UK Met Office says Earth is being affected by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun that arrived on Sunday morning, 1 June, and which led to increased aurora displays.
This solar activity may last into Monday night and Tuesday morning, 2-3 June, meaning aurora chasers could be treated to another display across northern UK, Europe, North America and in the Southern Hemisphere too.
In the UK, aurora activity will "become progressively confined to Northern Ireland and Scotland," the Met Office said.
What's causing the aurora
Aurora displays on Earth are generated by activity on the Sun in the form of solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
These outbursts generate charged particles that are carried across the Solar System by the solar wind.
When these hit Earth's atmosphere, they excite oxygen and nitrogen particles, and the visible effect of this is the glowing green, red and purple colours that we call the aurora.
The Met Office says there are up to six sunspot regions visible on the Earth-facing side of the Sun at the moment.
This region produced a flare, catalogued as AR4100, responsible for the coronal mass ejection arrival on the morning of 1 June (UTC).
Aurora displays could continue into the evening of Monday 2 June 2025.
Find out more via the Met Office Space Weather forecast service.
Forecast
- Solar activity: Likely to remain low, but there's a chance of an isolated M-class flare, most likely from AR4100
- Solar wind: Solar wind speeds remain strong, but are slowly easing over the coming 24 hours
- Geomagnetic actvity: Occasional minor/moderate storm intervals expected on 2 June, with a chance of some periods of strong activity
Aurora location
In the UK, residual aurora activity is possible on the evening of Monday 2 June, but this will likely be confined to Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland.
In North America, images from the Space Weather Prediction Center show aurora displays are likely in the northern regions of the USA, and very likely in Canada.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre says views of the aurora australis could continue into 2 June 2025.
Find out more about how you can catch an aurora display with our guide on how to predict the aurora.
If you manage to photograph the aurora, send us your images by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com
