Description

Northern blight

Motorists have come to rely on their sat nav to get them from A to B. Unfortunately, interference from the aurora borealis, or northern lights, can degrade the quality of the GPS signal, making sat navs less accurate, say researchers at Lancaster University. They have created a live AuroraWatch website at tinyurl.com/n7ssx that will e-mail you warnings of any such auroral activity. Your sat nav is likely to be affected only if near to the Earth's magnetic poles or in about five years' time when we reach the peak of the solar cycle.