"I'm an astrophysicist - here's why autumn is the best time for spotting Northern Lights in the UK"

Professor Emily Brunsden, 41, is an astrophysicist at the University of York. After seeing the Hubble Space Telescope images at age 15, she was inspired to pursue a scientific career – and discover “what was really going on” behind the beautiful pictures.

“We always get more opportunities to see aurora when it’s dark,” says Emily, “and there is a slight uptick in the number of auroras that you can see close to the equinoxes.”

There are two equinoxes a year: one in March and one in September. In 2026, the autumn equinox was on September 23.

Northern lights come from a flow of charged particles between the Sun and Earth. “That storm of particles comes towards the Earth with their own magnetic field,” Emily explains, “and that interacts with the magnetic field of the Earth.”

“Those energetic particles interact with the gases in our atmosphere,” she says, “Those gases get really excited, and the way that they de-excite after being excited by these particles is to give off light.”

During an equinox, the Sun is positioned exactly above the equator. This optimises the alignment of magnetic fields, increasing the chance of spotting northern lights.

“It’s a bit more likely that there might be an event because the Earth's magnetic field is oriented the right way,” explains Emily.

For more successful sightings, she recommends using satellite-informed predictions, rather than relying on aurora apps.

“NASA has a lot of detectors out there,” she says. “They do aurora predictions based on all the satellite data that they have coming in from space, so that's a good place to start.”

After spotting an aurora prediction, find an area without light pollution, such as North York Moors National Park or Yorkshire Dales National Park.

“You might see it as grey wispy clouds first,” Emily adds. “It's always worth trying to take a photo with a camera, because they're much more sensitive to light.”