Sky gazers in the north of Scotland are being treated treated to some spectacular light displays in the heavens. It’s all due to a coronal mass ejection (CME) leaving the Sun’s surface two days ago and now arriving at Earth, say the Met Office.
A CME is described as a large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona into the heliosphere. When they arrive at our planet they can produce a geomagnetic storm and solar flares, in other words, the aurora borealis - also known as the northern lights.
They move so fast that they can reach our planet in as little as 15 to 18 hours as some of them can travel at speeds of 3,000km per second. Slower CMEs can take several days to arrive. And when they get here, they produce stunning light shows, like the ones witnessed in Scotland over the weekend and in this morning.
A live webcam from Burrafirth, on Unst, in the Shetlands has been producing some stunning images of the northern lights show. You can see for yourself and watch it live here.
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