Aurora forecast tonight in Kirkwall (Orkney)
Live northern lights outlook for Kirkwall (Orkney), United Kingdom — from NOAA's Ovation model and planetary Kp forecast, updated every 15 minutes.
Tonight's verdict
Worth watching tonight
1%
local probability now
2.0
max Kp next 24h
Kp 1+
what Kirkwall (Orkney) needs
There's a real chance if skies are dark and clear. Auroras are often bright to a camera before they're visible to the eye.
Make the quiet useful: get a storm alert first · Film the aurora on iPhone · Aurora tonight
Updated 2026-09-28 20:31 UTC · NOAA SWPC Ovation Prime · Kp now 0.7
Kp forecast — next 24 hours
1.7
21:00
1.7
00:00
2.0
03:00
1.7
06:00
1.0
09:00
1.0
12:00
1.0
15:00
1.7
18:00
Times UTC · bright green = at/above the Kp 1 Kirkwall (Orkney) needs
Aurora possible over Kirkwall (Orkney) tonight — be ready to film it.
When you're finally standing in the cold under the night you've waited years for, there are no retakes — the sky does its show once and moves on. So pack the jacket, pack the thermos, and pack the one thing that makes the night eternal: the only iOS astrophotography app built for auroras. Long after the trip, you'll still have the display itself, moving, in 4K.
- ✦ Set it down and it arms itself
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- ✦ Tracks the aurora live — no extra app
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What it takes to see the aurora from Kirkwall (Orkney)
Kirkwall (Orkney) sits at 59.0°N geographic, but what decides an aurora is geomagnetic latitude — 61.0°N here. That puts the northern lights overhead regularly: even quiet conditions around Kp 1–2 can bring them out, so on a clear night you mostly need darkness and patience.
Kp 1 a camera catches itKp 1 visible to the eyeKp 3 overhead
Watching from Kirkwall (Orkney): get clear of streetlights with an open northern horizon, give your eyes fifteen minutes to adapt, and concentrate on the hours around local midnight, when activity statistically peaks. The season runs from late August to mid-April, and activity climbs measurably around the equinoxes.
For comparison, Lerwick (Shetland), 171 km away, needs the same Kp 1 — so on a marginal night, drive toward darker skies, not toward latitude.
One rule every chaser learns the hard way: the camera sees it first. An arc that reads as grey haze to your eyes is already green in a one-second exposure, so point a camera at the northern sky before deciding there is nothing there — one tap in Aurora Lens runs that check and films whatever answers.
Read next: Aurora with any phone · Film the aurora on iPhone · Aurora tonight
Tonight's sky over Kirkwall (Orkney)
Astronomical darkness
7.6 hours
21:14 – 04:53 local time GMT+1
Local clock times for Kirkwall (Orkney), between sunset-dark and first light: the sun more than 18° below the horizon, when faint aurora shows best.
Clouds tonight
Overcast71%
Mean cloud cover across tonight's dark hours. Clouds beat cameras — a clear gap is worth chasing.
Moon
95% lit
A bright moon washes out faint aurora. Strong displays cut through it without trouble.
Best spots to see the northern lights in Kirkwall (Orkney)
Places locals and guides actually name, with what each one gives you.
Wideford Hill
4 km west · car
A 225 m hill with a public road to the summit, high enough to put Kirkwall's lights below you and a clear view north from the top. Lit transmitter masts stand on the summit, which is worth knowing before you frame a photograph.
Inganess Bay
4 km east · car
A sandy bay beyond the airport, unlit and open to the sea, and the closest spot to Kirkwall that locals actually name. The wreck of the Juniata stands in the shallows and gives a low display something to sit behind.
Broch of Gurness
17 km north-west · car
The broch stands on the north coast at Aikerness, with Eynhallow Sound and Rousay filling the horizon, the open northern water an aurora needs. The monument closes at night, so watch from the car park and the shore at Sands of Evie.
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Aurora in Kirkwall (Orkney): common questions
- What Kp does Kirkwall (Orkney) need to see the northern lights?
- Three different numbers, depending what you mean. Kirkwall (Orkney) sits at 61.0 geomagnetic latitude, so a long exposure picks the aurora up low on the northern horizon from about Kp 1, you can see it yourself from around Kp 1, and it stands overhead near Kp 3. Aurora glows 100–400 km up, which is why it clears the horizon from hundreds of kilometres away.
- Is it dark enough in Kirkwall (Orkney) tonight?
- Kirkwall (Orkney) gets about 7.6 hours of full astronomical darkness tonight, and the moon is 95% lit. Both matter: a bright moon or a sky that never fully darkens will hide a faint display.
- When is the best time of year for aurora in Kirkwall (Orkney)?
- The season runs from late August to mid-April. Activity peaks statistically around the equinoxes, in late September and again in March, and the hours around local midnight are the most productive on any given night.
- Can an iPhone photograph the aurora in Kirkwall (Orkney)?
- Yes, and it will usually show more than your eyes do. A long exposure gathers colour that human night vision cannot. Filming it moving needs an app built for the job; Aurora Lens does that and saves a 4K timelapse plus a still frame.
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