LOOK UP: Northern lights expected over Ireland tonight

Astronomy Ireland is urging everyone to watch the night sky this evening for one of nature's great spectacles - the aurora borealis, or 'northern lights'

After a very strong display of the Northern lights starting at midnight on Thursday another good display is expected on Friday night after sunset and it should be visible from Ireland.

"Look in the north after sunset. You should at least see an arc of light low in the north, and if the display picks up as expected this could move much higher in the sky.

In the past, perhaps once a decade, we can even see it overhead from Ireland, when it is an incredible sight!" said David Moore, Editor of Astronomy Ireland, the world's most popular astronomy club.

This aurora is being caused by a huge group of spots on the Sun which are far bigger than Earth.

Explosions on the Sun, which would dwarf the entire world's nuclear arsenal, have hurled billions of tonnes of radiation towards the Earth and our planet's magnetic field has directed them to the north and south poles where they collide harmlessly with the Earth's upper atmosphere.

"This solar radiation makes the Earth's upper atmosphere glow in a process similar to what goes on in flourescent light tubes, but on a scales of thousands of kilometres." said Mr Moore.

Astronomy Ireland is calling on people to report their sightings and take photos of this once in a decade event.

See the society's website www.astronomy.ie and follow the links to its social media on twitter and facebook.

"People around the world have been reporting seeing amazing displays of the aurora and tonight it should be Ireland's turn so we want to hear from the general public what they see" said David Moore.