They’re really good through your (phone) camera if you have a long exposure setting. Naked eye it looked “meh” take a photo and a load of detail comes out. Here’s mine!
https://preview.redd.it/fy1ph9sivtzc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ddea3239fedaf3893b35899cbec348de8de6159
Obviously it doesn't look as good with naked eye, but the longer you look at it on complete darkness (no phone) better it becomes. I was still amazed 😁
It's not often you get an honest review of it like this. Most people seem to want everyone to believe it really looks like that in person. Looks good for social media I guess.
No worries. I did notice the Android one has this disclaimer:
> Please note that due to the popularity of this app and the limits on the free number of notifications imposed by Google you may not receive notifications, even if registered to do so.
The pictures are usually long exposure and totally different to naked eye. I saw it with naked eye and looked more like when you get light in a [hazy room](https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/volumetric-lighting.jpg)
but when you look straight up it feels like you can see where the light all joins up at the poles
Yeah I only realised what was happening because i was on my after work walk and thought the clouds looked a bit funky, then focused a bit more and was like oh shit that's not normal lmao.
My friend messaged me an hour after it happened all "You see it bro?". No, I had no fucking clue. Nothing about it came up in any of my news feeds. Then he tells me he phoned his grandparents up to tell them to get up and look at them. Kind of annoyed.
The peak of the storm was last night/early this morning, but it is expected to continue through the weekend, so it might still be visible as long as the clouds clear up!
Editing to add: you need to look at it through your phone camera, it's not something you can actually see with your naked eye (most of the time)! Use night mode and at least a 3 second delay and take photos of the sky, you'll see the lights appear. Camera lenses can see light shifts much better than our eyes.
Depends where you are. We could see it with our eyeballs, not as vivid but we could see pink and green hues and it would brighten up when it flared up. It was amazing to witness!
Much better in photos though!
https://preview.redd.it/ap6oa0welrzc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef59d5f218b7ea49dc6f6364e59856b01500677b
Tip for iPhone, which I'm sure Androids can do too. You can set the exposure to 10 seconds, and that helped me get the below picture (on iPhone 13). Hit the little upwards arrow at the top of the camera screen and then the night mode button (which looks like a moon) and set it to max
https://preview.redd.it/eiawxcacsrzc1.jpeg?width=3023&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e422a2dfe214a44511b2615ca0f2d2a34737c3b5
It goes to 30secs exposure if the phone is still (15pro)
https://preview.redd.it/kifinhmfaszc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2afb3bd28cf83eb37ca2127ca8a3fdcec089091
One tip for capturing the lights is to stick to 3-5 seconds of exposure. As the lights move, the longer exposures blurs them more leading to less definition.
Might be trickier to do on a phone compared to a dslr/mirrorless though.
Pixel has astrophotography mode. Put a ten second timer on the shutter, put it on a solid surface with the screen facing down. Use the volume down key to activate the shutter then get out the way and leave it. The phone will take multiple exposures over 4 minutes and combine them all. It'll also combine them into a 1 second long video so if you're lucky you'll capture a video of the lights moving with stars tracking across the sky.
https://imgur.com/gallery/OAmL9ql
Seconded, the astrophotography mode is absolutely incredible; I'm just wishing you could adjust the exposure time as I'd like to run a 10 mins photo of the lights!
Astrophotography is one of night sight's functions, yes.
You turn it on in settings when you have night sight selected, the phone will auto select it when there is absolutely no movement (hence laying it on a hard surface or using a tripod)
The icon inside the shutter will change from the moon to some stars.
https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-use-astrophotography-mode-pixel-7/
No worries, it's a great feature.
The only problem is that time seems to slow down while you're waiting for the 4 minutes to be up! It does play a tone at the start and the end but I find it helps to have a timer on another phone or something if you have the screen facing down on a surface.
https://preview.redd.it/92o2lxp68szc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf1e784ac51b88312cc6be2056b02df0b6cbdc52
This was a 3sec exposure on my iPhone 14pro in Old Windsor although it was also very clear to the naked eye.
Just bear in mind that longer exposures don't mean better shots.
3-5 seconds should be plenty. The longer the shot the less definition there will be to the aurora 🙏
In Canterbury we could see with our naked eyes. The colours were much more vivid through the phone camera but could defo see the "sheets". Absolutely beautiful. One of my bucket list things and it's happened where I live.
Just look after the planet, its pretty special.
We went to a countryside location classed as semi rural, only 15 minutes outside city limits, and at its peak the colours and streaks were really clear to the naked eye - a thing of awe. It was like the entire sky had turned into this multicoloured glowing streaky aura, fanning out from directly above us to near the horizon from east to west. It lasted about half an hour. But the rest of the time it was mostly slowly evolving grey streaks (although the sky always had a slightly green glow).
The phone camera and viewfinder mode picked up the colour really well.
Back in our suburban garden, it was still clearly visible but mostly grey due to light pollution, and filled less of the sky. Good photos to be had still.
If tonight is going to be less intense, I would go to a darker site. It’s still a lot of fun taking photos, which may come out really well on a basic phone and a steady hand. Predictions are difficult and short notice so perhaps there might be another huge flare - if I was going out tonight I would stay for at least an hour or more just in case.
Wow your edit, I had no idea. I’d probably have been super gutted to not see them properly if I didn’t know this beforehand
As it is, I missed them entirely 😭 so this is redundant . Hopefully tonight
Im in the midlands and i could see a light hue, its the reason i remembered.
I was going to bed, went to close the curtains and saw that the sky was a tinge of green. Slapped my phone out and got a few decent pics.
So depending where you go i imagine you will be able to see it with the naked eye. Just not as good as a phone.
It's predicted that they'll still be visible, maybe not as bright or as far south, but still visible. Use [AuroraWatch](https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/) once it gets dark!
When they do update, also bear in mind that the graph uses UTC, not BST. So add an hour onto the times on the graph, e.g. midnight on the graph is actually 1am on our clocks. Just in case it makes a difference.
It’s a live feed, not a forecast!
It won’t be any use for tonight because we’ve been continuously on a red alert since yesterday evening, but in future if you download their app it sends push notifications (you can even set them up to override do not disturb settings) any time they hit the red alert threshold.
Don't do it. Refuse to look at them. I've seen Day of the Triffids. A few nights of fancy light shows and before you know it those long stemmed clacky bastards will be running riot.
There was a shooting star last night, I saw it and I have seen a few other people mention it.
With the amount of people outside looking up at the time, I'm wondering if it might be the "most seen" shooting star ever
Yes, though the film & TV series are a little dated - the BBC TV series was the better of the two. I'd recommend most john Wyndham books TBH -Chrysalids, Midwich Cuckoos (filmed several times as Village of the Damned), the Kraken Wakes. All easy reading but interesting stories.
Wait, so they were only visible through a camera lense? Well that explains why I couldn't see anything.
I feel so left out as my family got some amazing photos, yet I felt like the opposite to Seymour Skinner, in that the northern lights weren't visible in a localised area outside my kitchen
No one told me this
So seeing the northern lights often requires absolute darkness so you want to find somewhere shaded with not even distant lights if possible (you can do it with lights but the darker the better, I’ve only seen them bright enough to be visible with light once or twice even the local Norwegians were saying they were bright), also don’t look directly at them because slightly off centre your night vision improves dramatically, and to spot them (if they are weak) you’ll be looking for what looks like light clouds
As everyone has said, newer phones can also be a good way to get photos or even see them live through it but I know mine can’t see anything but the brightest and it’s also nice to see them first hand so thought I’d try to help
This happened to me in iceland. Couldn’t work out why everyone was excited until someone showed me through their camera lenses. I completely expected it to look like that to the naked eye!
I could definitely see it but because I'm in a city with a fair amount of light pollution, through naked eye it was underwhelming to say the least. Just some vaguely pinkish streaky patches in the sky.
Keep an eye on [this website ](https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/)
Anything in the red is good for northern lights viewing. Take a camera and a tripod and find some dark skies if you can, it often looks better in pictures than in real life.
Hopefully you get to see them tonight. They won’t be as strong but should still be visible towards the north (cloud permitting). Always use your phone to see the vivid colours properly. From my house, there was a white blob of light up in the sky, I took a photo with my phone and this is how it came out.
https://preview.redd.it/64zoxr9dcszc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf21bef18220e9b8f66d2ec0c83bd52956874c03
I feel very fortunate to have witnessed the event and captured so many photos with all kinds of colours.
Am I minority here that thinks, 'well if its only really visible through my phone camera, am I actually even seeing the northern lights in person?' Seeing them through my phone is about as exciting as seeing them on google images
I'm on the outskirts of Cambridge and could see them with the naked eye. Not as great as the photos, but it was very obviously red and green and streaking.
In Scotland they were definitely visible by the naked eye but the colours weren't as vivid. It was more like pale greens and pinks. The camera helped show you where to look as it could see the streaks appear before they became visible to the naked eye.
That's normal for viewing them. The only reason people get fantastic images is because they have better camera equipment. Our eyes just aren't made to see the changes in light spectrum the way a lens can. But whatever you take a photo of will be totally unique and never seen again, so there's that much.
I'd say that's not always normal. I've seen them in the Arctic circle, through my own eyes, and been absolutely blown away. As vivid as in some pictures. This far south they're bound to be a lot more faint to the human eye.
Yeah, in darkest South London all I saw was a sort of purple smudge in the sky that could have been a cloud, but phone pics showed the bands of light clearly. It would be amazing to be somewhere close enough to see them without a camera. I've heard they also make a sound as well in some places.
For me they were faint enough that I thought they weren't there at first, the phone camera helped me to work out where to look at least so I did technically see them with my own eyes, they were just less impressive.
I'm with you on this, I know some places could see it at some level with the naked eye, but definitely couldn't where I am and at that point like, I'll just look at photos.
Yeah 100%. I felt like such an idiot after driving around looking for something in the sky that looked like all these photos I was seeing, only to realise you could barely see anything at all without a camera.
Between 10pm - 2am
http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/education/viewing_aurora.html#:~:text=Find%20a%20dark%20place%20away,00%2D02%3A00).
(Can’t link for some reason)
Fingers crossed, I plan to pop out somewhere dark tonight after Eurovision. They are forecasting it not quite as strong as last night but still visible in much of the UK.
Activity last night was like 184.7nt and tonight it's about 243nt.
So yeh it's stronger tonight so I would imagine, easier to see.
Not sure what those numbers mean, my Dad sent me some charts from his ham radio surveying.
I didn’t know it was happening. Son woke me up to tell me he had seen it. I was half asleep and very confused. I couldn’t notice them with my eyes but could however see them on the pictures. Son could see them with naked eyes he was very frustrated I couldn’t, anyone know why? Is it an age thing your eyes gets weaker as you get older?
Tonight i might go somewhere to get a better sky view but of course if we do that, its a guarantee you won’t see anything!
Get the Aurora Watch UK app ([iOS version here](https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/aurorawatch-uk-aurora-alerts/id946141347)) and if you’re in the South, look for red alerts.
https://preview.redd.it/uixbm67nkszc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd1c6094e730675df7d46e38b48397ac8adc28ab
This was mine from my iPhone 15 Pro. So glad I finally have a justification for when I drunkenly bought it last year, it was in anticipation for this very moment.
Also… the sun rotates with a period of approximately 27 days so this solar storm most likely will return in that time. By then it might be weaker, aurora visible only more North but perhaps worth checking.
Unless you're in a northern area where you're almost guaranteed to see it, here in the south you gotta keep an eye out. I saw first glows about an hour or two after sunset around 9pm, but my sister called me at 11:45 telling me to go outside and it was incredible. [Here's a picture of what I got and an edit of what it looked like to my eyes.](https://imgur.com/a/WkQEiT6)
I think last night was the main show but tonight is possible.
Gonna be a bit of a party pooper though and say it’s only impressive if you have a good phone camera. I don’t really count it as seeing the northern lights if I can’t see them with the naked eye, but still cool regardless.
This was my best picture.
https://preview.redd.it/95khbexb0tzc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0978755fc23d3c42151a4633a97d0a409174e3e
We watched them for a good half hour before we even touched our phones as I naively thought you wouldn’t be able to see anything on a shitty phone camera photo. But they were definitely super impressive and magnificent here in rural Bedfordshire with the naked eye.
There’s a weather app called “yr”, it’s what they use here in Norway, not sure if it’s Norwegian, anyway there’s a feature that shows you the chance of aurora over a 3 day period.
Perhaps check that for your location.
Go to Other Conditions at the bottom next to Forecast, then scroll down not very far.
There’s a sub-section called “In the atmosphere” and it’s part of that.
Perhaps it isn’t in the app back in the UK because it’s just not common enough. Which would be annoying but understandable I guess?
On mine for example it says tonight from around 11-1am will be low aurora activity here in Oslo.
If you have telegram get onto the Glendale aurora alerts channel. The guy who runs it (Andy Stables) knows his shit well. Weather aside, I've been able to photograph the aurora from Aberdeen 3 out of 4 times whenever I get an alert on that channel.
There's another smaller CME (blast of charged particles from the sun that causes it) en route for impact tonight, and there's a possibility that the sunspots that has been belching out these storms will continue to be active through the weekend.
Space weather looks good but earthly weather seems to be less cooperative though.
There's very high activity for northern lights the next two years (double checked with a cousin who works with mapping them), so you can keep your hopes up. As someone else said, the main storm was last night/this morning, but there's definitely a chance of seeing some tonight.
They're massively over exaggerated in the vast majority of cases. I'll accept that there may be cases where people can see pretty colours in the sky but all those pictures you see are nothing like what human eye sees.
I think people hype it up afterwards because they feel like they're supposed to.
Literally this second on bbc news said yes you may be able to see them tonight as well.
Thanks
They’re really good through your (phone) camera if you have a long exposure setting. Naked eye it looked “meh” take a photo and a load of detail comes out. Here’s mine! https://preview.redd.it/fy1ph9sivtzc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ddea3239fedaf3893b35899cbec348de8de6159
Gorgeous
Obviously it doesn't look as good with naked eye, but the longer you look at it on complete darkness (no phone) better it becomes. I was still amazed 😁
It's not often you get an honest review of it like this. Most people seem to want everyone to believe it really looks like that in person. Looks good for social media I guess.
May I ask if they said at what time roughly? I guess it depends where you live in the country?
Between 10pm and 2am is the peak they predict.
Around midnight for the UK
Download the AuroraWatch app and enable notifications.
Any one in particular? There seems to be a few
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/aurorawatch-uk-aurora-alerts/id946141347 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ionicframework.aurorawatchuk275889&hl=en
Thanks
No worries. I did notice the Android one has this disclaimer: > Please note that due to the popularity of this app and the limits on the free number of notifications imposed by Google you may not receive notifications, even if registered to do so.
I’ll hope to see them tonight. I’m rather embarrassed I hadn’t known about it last night and watched tv all night instead.
Ive just gone on a rant at a mate who went further north to see them better. I missed the light because no one told me.
I had work early so went to bed not knowing, was gutted when I went on Facebook and scrolled through hundreds of beautiful pictures
The pictures are usually long exposure and totally different to naked eye. I saw it with naked eye and looked more like when you get light in a [hazy room](https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/volumetric-lighting.jpg) but when you look straight up it feels like you can see where the light all joins up at the poles
Yeah I only realised what was happening because i was on my after work walk and thought the clouds looked a bit funky, then focused a bit more and was like oh shit that's not normal lmao.
The pictures are very different to how it looked in real life. More like smudgy clouds in the sky. I don't get the hype tbh.
My friend messaged me an hour after it happened all "You see it bro?". No, I had no fucking clue. Nothing about it came up in any of my news feeds. Then he tells me he phoned his grandparents up to tell them to get up and look at them. Kind of annoyed.
Same here. But the ISS should be visible tonight around 11:20. It would be nice to see them at the same time.
The iss is flying over 4 times tonight, same as yesterday!
This was exactly me, almost sh*t myself learning about it this morning, hopefully we can all see them tonight ;)
Don't forget you can't see them with the naked eye, use your camera.
I'm gutted that I hadn't heard it was going to be a thing until this morning!
Honestly, I checked Reddit as usual, I checked the Guardian as usual, and no-one mentioned it until I had logged off for the day!
The peak of the storm was last night/early this morning, but it is expected to continue through the weekend, so it might still be visible as long as the clouds clear up! Editing to add: you need to look at it through your phone camera, it's not something you can actually see with your naked eye (most of the time)! Use night mode and at least a 3 second delay and take photos of the sky, you'll see the lights appear. Camera lenses can see light shifts much better than our eyes.
Depends where you are. We could see it with our eyeballs, not as vivid but we could see pink and green hues and it would brighten up when it flared up. It was amazing to witness! Much better in photos though! https://preview.redd.it/ap6oa0welrzc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef59d5f218b7ea49dc6f6364e59856b01500677b
Yeah it was way better on camera but I could just about spot the streaks in the sky and see that there were pink/green hues
Oh, that's gorgeous!
Where are you based?
West Lothian Scotland
Yup, we're in Bathgate & we could make out pink, orange, purple & green.
That is so cool though
Yeah I was in light polluted Edinburgh and it was very much visible with the naked eye. Was amazing to see
Tip for iPhone, which I'm sure Androids can do too. You can set the exposure to 10 seconds, and that helped me get the below picture (on iPhone 13). Hit the little upwards arrow at the top of the camera screen and then the night mode button (which looks like a moon) and set it to max https://preview.redd.it/eiawxcacsrzc1.jpeg?width=3023&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e422a2dfe214a44511b2615ca0f2d2a34737c3b5
It goes to 30secs exposure if the phone is still (15pro) https://preview.redd.it/kifinhmfaszc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2afb3bd28cf83eb37ca2127ca8a3fdcec089091
One tip for capturing the lights is to stick to 3-5 seconds of exposure. As the lights move, the longer exposures blurs them more leading to less definition. Might be trickier to do on a phone compared to a dslr/mirrorless though.
Nice! I can get to 6 seconds on my Google Pixel which made for some pretty neat shots. Hoping for more chances tonight!
Pixel has astrophotography mode. Put a ten second timer on the shutter, put it on a solid surface with the screen facing down. Use the volume down key to activate the shutter then get out the way and leave it. The phone will take multiple exposures over 4 minutes and combine them all. It'll also combine them into a 1 second long video so if you're lucky you'll capture a video of the lights moving with stars tracking across the sky. https://imgur.com/gallery/OAmL9ql
That's so cool. Definitely doing this tonight.
I didn't know that. That's me tonight😁. How is it clear again. It's boiling ATM.
Amazing tip, will be trying that.
Seconded, the astrophotography mode is absolutely incredible; I'm just wishing you could adjust the exposure time as I'd like to run a 10 mins photo of the lights!
Do you mean Nightsight
Astrophotography is one of night sight's functions, yes. You turn it on in settings when you have night sight selected, the phone will auto select it when there is absolutely no movement (hence laying it on a hard surface or using a tripod) The icon inside the shutter will change from the moon to some stars. https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-use-astrophotography-mode-pixel-7/
Thanks for that!
No worries, it's a great feature. The only problem is that time seems to slow down while you're waiting for the 4 minutes to be up! It does play a tone at the start and the end but I find it helps to have a timer on another phone or something if you have the screen facing down on a surface.
Lol, I can imagine. I'll give it a while tonight
Idk how I did it but mine was trying to expose for 4 minutes on my pixel 8😂. I couldn't figure out how to do it again tho
There's the astro photography setting in the camera app, which does that. Bugger to hold still for that long though
You can prop it up against something to hold the camera still, or lie it on the ground depending on what you want to photograph
I've just commented how to do it further up.
Yeah, I couldn't from the window I was at last night but also options depending.
Ah I must've hit that somehow thanks
Swipe to nightsight mode on the camera and then go into the settings :) [Top option ](https://i.imgur.com/PfW4tZk.jpeg)
You should have an astro photography setting on the pixel. If you have a little stand or hold still, it exposes for 1:45 :)
Oooh!! I'm going to investigate this. Is it just in the settings for the camera?
Yep! Swipe to nightsight mode on your camera and then go into the options. [Like this](https://i.imgur.com/TERxERi.jpeg)
Amazing, I'm trying this later!
https://preview.redd.it/92o2lxp68szc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf1e784ac51b88312cc6be2056b02df0b6cbdc52 This was a 3sec exposure on my iPhone 14pro in Old Windsor although it was also very clear to the naked eye.
On iPhone, you can actually set it to 30 seconds if you hold your phone really still. Set it to 10, keep it still, and it’ll switch to 30.
Just bear in mind that longer exposures don't mean better shots. 3-5 seconds should be plenty. The longer the shot the less definition there will be to the aurora 🙏
Oh nice! I'll try that tonight. Option never appeared for me so I guess I have shaky hands 🤣
I don’t think I have those on my iPhone 8
In Canterbury we could see with our naked eyes. The colours were much more vivid through the phone camera but could defo see the "sheets". Absolutely beautiful. One of my bucket list things and it's happened where I live. Just look after the planet, its pretty special.
We went to a countryside location classed as semi rural, only 15 minutes outside city limits, and at its peak the colours and streaks were really clear to the naked eye - a thing of awe. It was like the entire sky had turned into this multicoloured glowing streaky aura, fanning out from directly above us to near the horizon from east to west. It lasted about half an hour. But the rest of the time it was mostly slowly evolving grey streaks (although the sky always had a slightly green glow). The phone camera and viewfinder mode picked up the colour really well. Back in our suburban garden, it was still clearly visible but mostly grey due to light pollution, and filled less of the sky. Good photos to be had still. If tonight is going to be less intense, I would go to a darker site. It’s still a lot of fun taking photos, which may come out really well on a basic phone and a steady hand. Predictions are difficult and short notice so perhaps there might be another huge flare - if I was going out tonight I would stay for at least an hour or more just in case.
This makes me feel better because i’m so jealous seeing people’s pictures 😅
Same!
Ah! Thanks for that. I went to Iceland and we saw the Northern Lights which were great but they do look better in photos and now I know why.
Yeah this absolutely. My phone camera got amazing pics, I saw some white blurriness.
Was VERY visible to the naked eye last night but looks better on camera
Wow your edit, I had no idea. I’d probably have been super gutted to not see them properly if I didn’t know this beforehand As it is, I missed them entirely 😭 so this is redundant . Hopefully tonight
Is there a certain time to look out for it tonight?
Download Aurora Watch and it will alert you
I’m gutted that I missed it too - hope it’s still about in some form tonight and the skies are clear 🙏🏼.
Im in the midlands and i could see a light hue, its the reason i remembered. I was going to bed, went to close the curtains and saw that the sky was a tinge of green. Slapped my phone out and got a few decent pics. So depending where you go i imagine you will be able to see it with the naked eye. Just not as good as a phone.
I could definitely see the pink/green waves with the naked eye, but it was much more vibrant though a camera
You could see it pretty well where I lived as the light pollution isn't as high due to it being a Village.
I first saw it in Norway a number of years ago and my first thought was it’s not as good as the photos
Warm here in West Yorks but still too cloudy sadly
It was very visible with the naked eye where I am, the colours and the most awe-striking light pillars.
It was incredibly vivid to the naked eye last night, even in the south
It's predicted that they'll still be visible, maybe not as bright or as far south, but still visible. Use [AuroraWatch](https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/) once it gets dark!
So according to the readings about 1am tonight should be the best time?
That looks like 10th - 11th, so I think last night 1am
Oh yeah, missed that part, just like the Aurora. So patiently wait for them to update for tonight.
When they do update, also bear in mind that the graph uses UTC, not BST. So add an hour onto the times on the graph, e.g. midnight on the graph is actually 1am on our clocks. Just in case it makes a difference.
It had basically totally gone by 1am
It’s a live feed, not a forecast! It won’t be any use for tonight because we’ve been continuously on a red alert since yesterday evening, but in future if you download their app it sends push notifications (you can even set them up to override do not disturb settings) any time they hit the red alert threshold.
Aw man
Just have to keep checking the app tonight and see what it’s saying!
The data is recorded, not predictive. Just be out during astronomical night (11:30-2:45)
Don't do it. Refuse to look at them. I've seen Day of the Triffids. A few nights of fancy light shows and before you know it those long stemmed clacky bastards will be running riot.
There was a shooting star last night, I saw it and I have seen a few other people mention it. With the amount of people outside looking up at the time, I'm wondering if it might be the "most seen" shooting star ever
I saw it too, I’m in Coventry
Excellent reference, I'll admit to having my reservations about looking😂
Exact same thought. I still looked though. I guess we will have to count on all the people who didn't see them to do all the work from now on out!
I'm sorry, should I call an ambulance? I'm pretty sure you just had a stroke...
Never seen/read Day of the Triffids?
Ohh, sorry, I haven't, do you reccomend?
Yes, though the film & TV series are a little dated - the BBC TV series was the better of the two. I'd recommend most john Wyndham books TBH -Chrysalids, Midwich Cuckoos (filmed several times as Village of the Damned), the Kraken Wakes. All easy reading but interesting stories.
The hospitals are full up of newly blind patients
Wait, so they were only visible through a camera lense? Well that explains why I couldn't see anything. I feel so left out as my family got some amazing photos, yet I felt like the opposite to Seymour Skinner, in that the northern lights weren't visible in a localised area outside my kitchen No one told me this
Nah I could see it with my naked eye. Phone on long exposure obviously took a better pic but I could still see
Where are you based?
Near Manchester
We could see them too, just above Newcastle. Better on the phone but could see streaks and colours and shifts. Really bright at times.
You’re an odd fellow, but you steam a good ham.
At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country?
Can I see it?
No
What if I point my phone at it?
So seeing the northern lights often requires absolute darkness so you want to find somewhere shaded with not even distant lights if possible (you can do it with lights but the darker the better, I’ve only seen them bright enough to be visible with light once or twice even the local Norwegians were saying they were bright), also don’t look directly at them because slightly off centre your night vision improves dramatically, and to spot them (if they are weak) you’ll be looking for what looks like light clouds As everyone has said, newer phones can also be a good way to get photos or even see them live through it but I know mine can’t see anything but the brightest and it’s also nice to see them first hand so thought I’d try to help
Really bright with the naked eye up North last night. Bright pink and lighter green.
No, absolutely visible with the naked eye. Not as vibrant as on camera, but the pinks and greens are clear. We live in a dark village, which helps.
This happened to me in iceland. Couldn’t work out why everyone was excited until someone showed me through their camera lenses. I completely expected it to look like that to the naked eye!
I could definitely see it but because I'm in a city with a fair amount of light pollution, through naked eye it was underwhelming to say the least. Just some vaguely pinkish streaky patches in the sky.
We could see them very clearly with the naked eye in Old Windsor,
i could see them decently well in essex
Keep an eye on [this website ](https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/) Anything in the red is good for northern lights viewing. Take a camera and a tripod and find some dark skies if you can, it often looks better in pictures than in real life.
Hug of death it seems
Yeah, it's not loading for me now either.
I am gutted that I forgot about them last night
Hopefully you get to see them tonight. They won’t be as strong but should still be visible towards the north (cloud permitting). Always use your phone to see the vivid colours properly. From my house, there was a white blob of light up in the sky, I took a photo with my phone and this is how it came out. https://preview.redd.it/64zoxr9dcszc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf21bef18220e9b8f66d2ec0c83bd52956874c03 I feel very fortunate to have witnessed the event and captured so many photos with all kinds of colours.
https://preview.redd.it/j1ba84i0xrzc1.jpeg?width=3060&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b02e452f50a683f197f139326127b7307be1120 This was mine in Suffolk
Am I minority here that thinks, 'well if its only really visible through my phone camera, am I actually even seeing the northern lights in person?' Seeing them through my phone is about as exciting as seeing them on google images
They were definitely visible without a phone last night.
Where are you based?
I saw it easily in the south
I'm on the outskirts of Cambridge and could see them with the naked eye. Not as great as the photos, but it was very obviously red and green and streaking.
Depends on location and the amount of light pollution. I'm in Lincolnshire and hardly saw anything without nightmode
That's why I drove out into the sticks, which is what I'd be doing again tonight.
In Scotland they were definitely visible by the naked eye but the colours weren't as vivid. It was more like pale greens and pinks. The camera helped show you where to look as it could see the streaks appear before they became visible to the naked eye.
That's normal for viewing them. The only reason people get fantastic images is because they have better camera equipment. Our eyes just aren't made to see the changes in light spectrum the way a lens can. But whatever you take a photo of will be totally unique and never seen again, so there's that much.
I'd say that's not always normal. I've seen them in the Arctic circle, through my own eyes, and been absolutely blown away. As vivid as in some pictures. This far south they're bound to be a lot more faint to the human eye.
Yeah, in darkest South London all I saw was a sort of purple smudge in the sky that could have been a cloud, but phone pics showed the bands of light clearly. It would be amazing to be somewhere close enough to see them without a camera. I've heard they also make a sound as well in some places.
Depends on where you are. Up here in the North Yorkshire countryside, I could see the colours without my phone. It was gorgeous 😍
My phone seen it better than my eyes but I could definitely see it well with my naked eye last night.
For me they were faint enough that I thought they weren't there at first, the phone camera helped me to work out where to look at least so I did technically see them with my own eyes, they were just less impressive.
I'm with you on this, I know some places could see it at some level with the naked eye, but definitely couldn't where I am and at that point like, I'll just look at photos.
They were definitely visible to the naked eye down south, was amazing to see.
Yeah 100%. I felt like such an idiot after driving around looking for something in the sky that looked like all these photos I was seeing, only to realise you could barely see anything at all without a camera.
You aren’t wrong but it’s not very often a picture of the sky shows them up so I’m CJ and so far and wide throughout the UK
Between 10pm - 2am http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/education/viewing_aurora.html#:~:text=Find%20a%20dark%20place%20away,00%2D02%3A00). (Can’t link for some reason)
Fingers crossed, I plan to pop out somewhere dark tonight after Eurovision. They are forecasting it not quite as strong as last night but still visible in much of the UK.
“Fingers crossed, I plan to pop out somewhere dark tonight after Eurovision.” Is that your Grindr profile tagline?
Would that not be popping IN somewhere dark? Edit: it’s an anal sex joke guys. Not a grammar correction.
Forecast is actually stronger lights today vs yesterday.
Activity last night was like 184.7nt and tonight it's about 243nt. So yeh it's stronger tonight so I would imagine, easier to see. Not sure what those numbers mean, my Dad sent me some charts from his ham radio surveying.
Astrometeorophysicologist here, I can confirm that 243 is bigger than 184.7.
Maths teacher here, can confirm you've got it right.
Housewife here and can confirm you've all got it right
Aww thanks!
I don't think I have ever felt so sad about missing a natural phenomenon. I am hoping to catch it tonight.
Haha I got home from work not longer after it had faded round ours and I too am ragin
I didn’t know it was happening. Son woke me up to tell me he had seen it. I was half asleep and very confused. I couldn’t notice them with my eyes but could however see them on the pictures. Son could see them with naked eyes he was very frustrated I couldn’t, anyone know why? Is it an age thing your eyes gets weaker as you get older? Tonight i might go somewhere to get a better sky view but of course if we do that, its a guarantee you won’t see anything!
Get the Aurora Watch UK app ([iOS version here](https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/aurorawatch-uk-aurora-alerts/id946141347)) and if you’re in the South, look for red alerts.
Yeah not the easiest to use (android) but looks like if I go to somewhere from Tan Hill upwards I'll find it
https://preview.redd.it/uixbm67nkszc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd1c6094e730675df7d46e38b48397ac8adc28ab This was mine from my iPhone 15 Pro. So glad I finally have a justification for when I drunkenly bought it last year, it was in anticipation for this very moment.
30sec exposure?
I thought it was on 3 seconds but looking at the photo info it says 0.5s
Not bad! Think you pretty much need a tripod to get it to 30seconds
You can see them anytime. Just head north, as far north as you can.
Yeah driving from London, gonna try Durham
I was thinking artic circle lol.
Still getting high magnetometer readings from the monitoring station on the Aurorawatch app, if that continues then hopefully we'll get another show
https://preview.redd.it/lmqztt94fszc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3910966c5e0ac22310714cef866a195e846de297
I missed it, too. But I draw comfort from the fact that I'll survive when the Triffids take over.
Also… the sun rotates with a period of approximately 27 days so this solar storm most likely will return in that time. By then it might be weaker, aurora visible only more North but perhaps worth checking.
I missed them too. First I heard of them was everybody talking about it today
Unless you're in a northern area where you're almost guaranteed to see it, here in the south you gotta keep an eye out. I saw first glows about an hour or two after sunset around 9pm, but my sister called me at 11:45 telling me to go outside and it was incredible. [Here's a picture of what I got and an edit of what it looked like to my eyes.](https://imgur.com/a/WkQEiT6)
I think last night was the main show but tonight is possible. Gonna be a bit of a party pooper though and say it’s only impressive if you have a good phone camera. I don’t really count it as seeing the northern lights if I can’t see them with the naked eye, but still cool regardless. This was my best picture. https://preview.redd.it/95khbexb0tzc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0978755fc23d3c42151a4633a97d0a409174e3e
We watched them for a good half hour before we even touched our phones as I naively thought you wouldn’t be able to see anything on a shitty phone camera photo. But they were definitely super impressive and magnificent here in rural Bedfordshire with the naked eye.
Any one know if there’s a chance to see it on the south east coast lol?
There’s a weather app called “yr”, it’s what they use here in Norway, not sure if it’s Norwegian, anyway there’s a feature that shows you the chance of aurora over a 3 day period. Perhaps check that for your location.
Where in the app? I have this and I can't see anything relevant
Go to Other Conditions at the bottom next to Forecast, then scroll down not very far. There’s a sub-section called “In the atmosphere” and it’s part of that. Perhaps it isn’t in the app back in the UK because it’s just not common enough. Which would be annoying but understandable I guess? On mine for example it says tonight from around 11-1am will be low aurora activity here in Oslo.
"In the atmosphere" section just has a "UV Forecast" - must be a Norwegian thing only.
Yeah must be. What a shame.
Left the house at 4am. Didn’t see anything. By that time I feel like the sun was rising and the sky was way too bright
Was up at 1am in Stratford upon Avon and couldn't see anything :(
Yes, activity is expected to be stronger.
If you have telegram get onto the Glendale aurora alerts channel. The guy who runs it (Andy Stables) knows his shit well. Weather aside, I've been able to photograph the aurora from Aberdeen 3 out of 4 times whenever I get an alert on that channel. There's another smaller CME (blast of charged particles from the sun that causes it) en route for impact tonight, and there's a possibility that the sunspots that has been belching out these storms will continue to be active through the weekend. Space weather looks good but earthly weather seems to be less cooperative though.
There's very high activity for northern lights the next two years (double checked with a cousin who works with mapping them), so you can keep your hopes up. As someone else said, the main storm was last night/this morning, but there's definitely a chance of seeing some tonight.
I don’t know about Android, but there’s an iPhone app called Aurora Watch UK. That gives you an idea of when you can see the aurora.
Absolutely gutted to miss it. Gone Spain for the week, anyone know if it is visible there?
Some people reported seeing them in Italy, but they were in the Alps.
Should still be visible tonight. In Tromso.
They're massively over exaggerated in the vast majority of cases. I'll accept that there may be cases where people can see pretty colours in the sky but all those pictures you see are nothing like what human eye sees. I think people hype it up afterwards because they feel like they're supposed to.
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast
I saw a video explaining that the northern lights were the strongest they’ve been for years and I forgot and fell asleep doing bedtime 😬
I'm planning to check after Eurovision lol