Nathan Case is a space physicist studying the interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere.
  • Nacreous clouds. Image: Mathiasm, CC BY-SA

    Explainer: what are the ‘nacreous clouds’ lighting up the winter skies?

    People in the polar regions of the world, such as Scandinavia and Canada, sometimes get to watch majestic, rainbow-coloured clouds drift across an otherwise grey winter sky. Over the past few days, observers from across the UK and Ireland have also been lucky enough to witness this phenomenon, known as “nacreous” (or polar stratospheric) clouds.

  • The Northern Lights

    Don’t panic: the northern lights won’t be turning off anytime soon

    The northern lights are nature’s very own magnificent light show. They are the mesmerising end result of electrically charged particles from the sun colliding with the Earth’s upper atmosphere.  Though more frequently witnessed from the polar regions, the UK and other places on similar latitudes are lucky enough for the aurora borealis to occasionally grace their night sky.