Northern Lights could be seen in Ayrshire again this weekend

Last week, locals flocked to the countryside and the coast for the best view of the lights, with the show also visible in residential areas.

For the first time since 2005, the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Centre in the USA had issued its Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch. 

A spectacular display lit up the skies over the west parts of Scotland, with purple, blue and greens displays twinkling over Ayrshire.

A spectacular display lit up the skies over the west parts of Scotland (Image: Peter Ribbeck)

For those sky-watchers who missed the spectacular scenery, experts say there are signs of another storm approaching which might boost the aurora again although they are not likely to be as spectacular or as widespread as last week.

When is the best time to see the Aurora Borealis?

The Met Office confirm that if the northern lights reappear this week, it will be on Friday night.

The best time and place to view the Northern Lights are in areas away from light pollution (i.e. outside of urban areas) and facing north.

Sky-watchers have another opportunity to see the display this weekend (Image: Peter Watkins)

The Met Office Space Weather department says: "Possible enhancement to the auroral oval may occur late on May 17 and overnight into May 18  should a coronal mass ejection (CME) give Earth a glancing blow.

"The aurora may be visible perhaps as far south as parts of Scotland where skies are clear. Mainly background aurora conditions are expected thereafter."

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are large expulsions of plasma from the sun.

And it comes amid an alert from AuroraWatch UK, which is run by scientists in the Space and Planetary Physics group at Lancaster University’s Department of Physics.

The site produces an hourly index to measure geomagnetic activity and is used to estimate the likelihood that aurora can be across different parts of the UK.

Its status between 6am and 7am this morning was "Amber alert: possible aurora" - meaning the phenomenon was "likely" to be visible by eye from Scotland.

An "Amber" status also means the Northern Lights are "possibly visible from elsewhere in the UK", with a likelihood of photographs from "anywhere" in the country.

Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by the solar wind, and can take many forms and colours.