A massive explosion on the surface of the sun has delivered one of the best chances for the next few years of viewing the "Northern Lights" over Ireland. Astronomers are urging everyone to try and catch the spectacular phenomenon over the next few days.
"Go and have a look," stated Mr Terry Moseley, chairman of the Royal Irish Academy's Astronomy committee and press officer of the Irish Astronomical Association.
"There is no guarantee, but there is a good chance and the best you will have for the next few years," he said of the opportunity to see the lights, known as the Aurora Borealis. "Make the best use of this chance."
The Aurora Borealis and its southern hemisphere equivalent, the Aurora Australis, are caused when huge explosions on the sun's surface blasts out solar particles, Mr Moseley explained.
"Our sun is a gigantic nuclear furnace with very strong magnetic fields. Every so often it throws out a huge mass of solar particles, and if they travel towards us, the particles get trapped in the earth's magnetic field" above the north and south poles, he said. There the particles strike molecules in the upper atmosphere causing them to glow red, green, purple and colours in between.
The glow is easily seen with the naked eye, provided the sky around you is as dark as possible, Mr Moseley said.
"Your best chance is to be under really dark skies out in the country and away from artificial lighting." The lights can occur at any time, but near midnight is particularly good when our viewing position is directly opposite the sun.
The viewer should face in a northern direction, but, with a bit of luck and a big solar explosion, the Aurora Borealis can drape the sky in its hazy light from the northern horizon to right overhead.
The number of solar explosions rises and falls over an 11-year cycle and the peak activity during the "solar maximum" is well past, Mr Moseley said.
The conditions that produce the aurora remain very good right through the week according to Mr David Moore, editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine.
"We have been told things will remain so for most of the week. Get out tonight from dusk 'til dawn, because there is a very good chance there will be an aurora," he said.