What Makes The United Kingdom A Perfect Place To See The Aurora Borealis This Year

The Arctic Circle is, without a doubt, the perfect place to see the northern lights; however

, they may appear occasionally from Britain and could stretch as far as the southern part of the Mediterranean on rare occasions.

This year 2011 is expected to bring the brightest auroras because the aurora will be on its 11th year on its eleven-year solar cycle. The next solar cycle will start next year 2012, so the coming winters will have the clearest and highest quality of aurora light display.

Solar storms cause charged particles and these charged particles are thrown out to the outer space by the sun. These charged particles wander aimlessly through space and some of them are caught by the North and South Poles' magnetic fields. As they are being sucked in through magnetic attraction, they eventually collide with the Earth's atmosphere and their potential electrical charge is excited by the magnetosphere and becomes unstable. This imbalance will inevitably result to light energy emission, causing colors to appear in the skies. The gases in the atmosphere also are responsible for the colors. Oxygen is said to be responsible for the colors green and red.

Since we are on the 11th year of the aurora borealis' eleven-year solar cycle, there's basically no need to leave the United Kingdom just to see the northern lights in other countries. This is the perfect time when you can see this amazing phenomenon of nature without going to prime locations like Norway, Iceland, or Canada just to see the aurora. The northern lights can be fairly seen in the Scottish Highlands. You may also head to Thurso and check out Thurso Castle, a 12th century fortress. Spotting the northern lights while you're there would be like hitting two birds with one stone. You can just imagine taking a picture of the castle with the colorful and shimmering aurora dancing over it.

There's an increased success rate of seeing the northern lights this year in the United Kingdom so might as well take advantage of it. Take note that the next solar cycle will be on year 2023, that's eleven years from next year.

This year will be totally different compared to the last eleven years of auroral sightings. There will be heavy geomagnetic storms that will cause unique and well-defined colors. Mark your winter calendars now and don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to see the northern lights.

by: Sandra Najera

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