A spectacular display of Northern Lights has been witnessed in the skies this year. Traveling to the Arctic Circle is generally associated with seeing the aurora borealis. However, in 2024, it was visible even in southern England, with reddish, greenish, purplish, and bluish coloured lights fillings the sky. This year has been the best year for these light displays in 20 years, featuring rare STEVE phenomenon.
The peak in the Sun’s 11-year cycle of activity is the principal reason behind the Northern Light’s eye-catching glorification. Flares and coronal mass ejections, eruptions from the sun, are increased during this phase that generate amazing auroral displays we witness from Earth. The Sun’s magnetic poles swap their positions in this cycle, causing increased eruptions. Scientists predicted that the peak would occur in the latter half of 2025, but NASA, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, and the Solar Cycle Prediction Panel claimed that the Sun reached its maximum output in October 2024.
Better technology and improved space weather forecasting are some of the important factors why we could witness these displays far better in 2024. Improved forecasts, applications, and social media platforms gave us real-time information on solar activity. Smartphones now have superior cameras with better resolution and more photographic features. Whereas a decade ago, when the last solar peak came, phone cameras had lower resolutions and fewer photographic features.
As a result of the new Stereo satellites, which begin studying and improving space weather forecasts in 2011, space weather forecasting has progressed significantly. They provided solar physicists the first 360-degree view of the Sun, studying and developing space weather forecasts on either side of the Sun. Besides, the Met Office inaugurated its Space Weather Operations Centre, which monitors space weather conditions, only in 2014.
Despite this fantastic showcase, some people still missed it. Simon King, the lead weather presenter, did not get to see it physically in 2024, but he saw it in 2023. BBC’s Weather Watchers took numerous stunning photographs of the aurora. However, not everybody had the chance to witness them, even though it was visible in southern England
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