Edinburgh and Lothian residents may be in for a spectacular night sky display throughout this week. Stargazers are set to be in for a treat with much Scotland to be lit up with the gorgeous naturally-occurring light show.

Earlier this month, the Met Office explained how there has been heightened solar activity, increasing the chances for people to see Northern Lights.

The national agency previously said that the best day this week to see the Northern Lights in the UK will be on Thursday evening for people in Scotland, reports the Mirror

It states: “The next potential auroral enhancement is expected on Thursday evening, which could allow for some visibility across similar geomagnetic latitudes as Scotland, depending on the extent of cloud cover.”

While on the strength of the solar activity over the next four days it says: “Moderate activity is expected to continue with occasional Moderate class flares. There is a chance of an isolated Strong (X-class) flare.”

A red alert was put out by AuroraWatch UK for the evening of Wednesday, September 30, meaning a sighting is highly likely (providing the sky remains clear and not too cloudy).

However, the lights may be visible, particularly across Scotland and as far south as Edinburgh, on Thursday.

AuroraWatch UK is run by scientists in the Space and Planetary Physics group at Lancaster University’s Department of Physics. Possible timings have not been given for the alert, but keep your eyes on the skies.

But cloud cover and light pollution can affect whether you will actually be able to see the spectacular celestial event.

This rare event sees the Sun have heightened magnetic activity and scientists are expecting it to peak until March 2026, before fading again until the mid 2030s.

Scots have been treated to many sightings of the Northern Lights in the earlier months of this year, with Orkney and Shetland often seeing the most impressive displays.

But the lights have been known to be spotted further south in other Scots cities such as Edinburgh and Glasgow too.

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