The Northern Lights are expected to make a rare appearance across Irish skies on Saturday and Sunday night, but much of the country is likely to be left disappointed due to poor weather conditions.
Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, are caused by massive ejections of solar material by the sun which collide with the Earth’s magnetic field. The charged particles from the sun create the lights that appear in latitudes near the north and south poles.
Sightings of the Northern Lights in May led to a frenzy on social media with many spectacular photographs being web published, particularly from both sides of the Irish Sea.
Astronomy Ireland founder David Moore said this weekend’s occurrence will happen “all over the island”.
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“This weekend’s display is predicted to be so strong that if it were perfectly clear over the island, people in Kerry would be able to see it as easily as people in Donegal,” he said.
“The distance between the north and the south of the island is trivial. The reason why there are more reports of sightings in the north is because they are looking out over the Atlantic Ocean where there are no street lights.
“What you need is a clear sky. Preferably get away from street lights. I have seen eight over Ireland so far this year, and would have seen more except they were clouded out.”
Mr Moore said it is difficult to predict exactly what time the phenomenon might occur, but urged people to check the skies every 30 minutes and “not to give up”.
“We can predict an eclipse down to the seconds, but the problem with the aurora is down to the magnetic fields in space,” he said. “If they are not aligned properly, they don’t funnel the radiation from the sun.
“There was supposed to be an aurora last night and the night before, but the magnetic field wasn’t conducive. The one that’s coming tonight, and probably tomorrow night as well, will be much bigger and will probably just ram itself into the north and South Pole anyway.
“So we are much more confident about tonight and tomorrow’s prediction. But as to when it will happen, they have been 12 hours early in the past, as well as 12 hour late. It’s not an eclipse. I would be telling people to start looking north as soon as it gets dark.”
However, Mr Moore pointed out that to maximise chances of viewing the aurora, the sky needs to be as clear as possible, and many people could left disappointed by cloud cover.
“The problem is the weather,” he said. “On May 10th, we had the biggest aurora for 500 years, according to Nasa. The skies were clear from Cork to Donegal, so we had thousands of photographs sent into us.
“Tonight, it looks like there is a band of rain crossing up. It is supposed to clear up later, but the question is how much later?”
A Met Éireann spokeswoman said on Saturday that the picture was “not going to be great” for anyone hoping to catch a sighting, but the people in the west and southwest should have clear skies after midnight.
“The cloud will start to clear from the west and southwest gradually after midnight,” she said. “The rest of the country will be cloudy however.
“On Sunday night, it will be mostly cloudy. There will be spots and breaks, but there won’t be a clear sky. The conditions will not be ideal really.”
