Irish skies will be lit up by a rare display of aurora borealis over the next few days after two explosions on the sun sent a huge cloud of radiation towards earth at over two million miles per hour.
The 'northern lights' will be visible all over the country and Astronomy Ireland is urging people who witness the natural phenomenon to document their sighting on their website www.astronomy.ie.
The light show will be so vast that it will be visible across most of Europe.
"It's very rare to be able to predict these displays of the aurora borealis," said David Moore, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland, "but we are fairly confident given the pictures from space that show a huge glowing ring of radiation thousands of miles across above the Earth's northern hemisphere. It's really quite a scary sight"
There are no special requirements to view the spectacle, other than darkness and a relatively clear sky. The lights will resemble white or green bands in.
Astronomy Ireland will host a viewing session in Roundwood, Co Wicklow, on Friday night. Viewers can avail of giant telescopes to see the lights clearer.