'Northern Lights could be visible again' as cloud cover spoils the show for many

The Northern Lights over Sligo. Picture: twitter.com/gerryodonnell0

Disappointed stargazers could have another opportunity to view the Northern Lights in the coming weeks after cloud cover spoiled Monday night's show for most people.

Sunday night saw the aurora phenomena light up the sky and be visible across large parts of the county, but Alan O'Reilly of Carlow Weather said "cloud sadly meant most people were unable to see the display" on Monday night.

All is not lost, however, as he reassured disappointed aurora chasers that Ireland "could see more opportunities in the coming weeks."

A few stargazers did get lucky last night when the clouds broke over Achill in Co Mayo and according to Astronomy Ireland founder, David Moore: There were a few reports in Northern Ireland too, just outside Belfast city."

He said: "In some places, it looks like the display was at least as good as Sunday night, but there was a lot more cloud cover over the island, so that may have spoiled a lot of people's view.

But there's bound to be more auroras coming up in the next few weeks, months and certainly years."

Mr Moore said Astronomy Ireland "can always predict the Northern Lights a couple of days in advance" but said "there is nothing on the cards for the next few days".

The Northern Lights over the Hebrides in Scotland on Monday night. Picture: Hannah Close/

However, he said "there could be an explosion later today and that would produce another aurora by the end of the week".

He urged people to follow Astronomy Ireland on Facebook and Twitter where his team post daily aurora updates.

"We never really know, so what we tell people to do is follow Astronomy Ireland on social media where every day we post an aurora update — whether there's nothing expected, a slight aurora expected, or as we forecast on Sunday, a strong aurora — and we certainly got that!"

The ‘green and red’ of Mayo put on a spectacular show for us last night in Mayo Dark Sky Park! Aurora dancing brightly and what a beautiful sight she was!#Auroraborealis #mayodarkskypark #halftheparkisafterdark pic.twitter.com/2HXcg9HMhX

— Mayo Dark Skies (@mayodarkskies) February 27, 2023

Aurora Borealis usually only occurs in polar regions such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland, but the light phenomenon has been captured across the country over the past two nights. 

According to Mr Moore, Aurora Borealis probably only happens in Ireland 1% of the time that it happens in the polar regions. He claims they can witness it almost every night, whilst we only get the chance a few times a year. 

He said: "The rare appearance of the Northern Lights in Ireland has been caused by radiation coming from the sun.

"Explosions on the sun have hurled billions of tonnes of radiation towards the Earth and our planet's magnetic field has directed it to the north and south poles where it collides harmlessly with the upper atmosphere.

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