Northern Lights appearance in Munster stuns stargazers — with more to come tonight

Northern Lights captured from West Cork on Sunday night. Picture: Aisling Sheehan

Stargazers across Ireland were treated with a vivid green and red glow as the Northern Lights made a rare appearance on Sunday night as a strong solar storm hit Earth. 

According to several weather reports, cracks in the Earth's magnetic shields, as well as a coronal hole on the sun, allowed a large blast of charged particles from the solar wind to trigger a G4-class geomagnetic storm.