STARGAZERS IN PARTS of Ireland were treated to a spectacular aurora on Sunday night, with particularly striking views over Cork, Newgrange and Valentia Island.

Speaking to The Journal David Moore, Chairman of Astronomy Ireland, said: “We predicted on Saturday that it would happen on Sunday, and sure enough, just before it got dark on Sunday it started to happen.”

Auroras such as last night’s are the result of explosions on the surface of the earth-facing side of the sun, caused by atoms being crushed by a process called fusion.

“You get massive explosions like that on the sun about once every week,” said Moore. “Half the time they’ll be on the far side of the sun and you never even see them, other times they’re on the left or right edge of the sun and they go left or right, but occasionally we’re in the firing line.

“So we saw the flash and then we were able to predict it was going to hit us on Sunday.”

Unfortunately, cloud cover in most of the country obscured the visuals for the majority of Irish aurora hopefuls, unlike the aurora which hit Ireland in late February, which produced incredible photographs from across the island. 

Some photographers did manage to capture last night’s phenomenon, however, with evidence of the rare occurrence posted to various social media channels.

An amazing Aurora last night and while the cloud spoiled the view for many, Aisling McMahon captured these amazing photos as far South as Cloughduv in Cork! pic.twitter.com/IIGqwkXWkw

— Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) April 24, 2023

THE COMING OF THE LIGHTS: The clouds did their best to ruin tonight's spectacular display of Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) over Síd in Broga (Newgrange), but they could not completely obscure the brilliance and beauty!#auroraborealis #northernlights #newgrange pic.twitter.com/zl4gcCn0Wb

— Mythical Ireland (@mythicalireland) April 23, 2023

A 6 second iPhone shot of the northern lights kicking off in Connemara right now! Absolutely incredible. Visible to the naked eye as well @CarlowWeather @ConnemaraIe @AranConnemara pic.twitter.com/Xi0QTXb0LX

— Sean O' Riordan (@seanorphoto) April 23, 2023

“We only see them a few times a year,” explained Moore. “We had several alerts last year, with a few breaks in the clouds. They do happen, but the bigger ones are less common.”

Moore noted that auroras do happen regularly enough that every two or three issues of Astronomy Ireland magazine will feature a photo of one. He added, however, that “usually it’s just a small glow on the northern horizon,” with Ireland’s cloudy weather often proving a hindrance. 

The magazine has issued a callout for photos of last night’s event, particularly from the west of Ireland just before dawn, to be published and archived in the National Library.