Incredible Northern Lights sightings around Ireland on winter solstice

Is there anything more beautiful than the phenomenon of the Aurora Bealis – aka the Northern Lights? Anyone who has had the pleasure in seeing these celestial green, pink and violet lights say it's like being on the very edge of the world looking into the abyss. The lights are collisions between electrically-charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere and for some lucky Irish people living on the coast from the Aran Island of Inis Oírr all the way down to Waterford and some parts of the East, they can catch a glimpse of the lights from their own back gardens, courtesy of the Winter Solstice. Speaking to The Times, David Moore of Astronomy Ireland confirmed: “We had reports from Waterford, Cork, Kerry, the west coast and Donegal and I photographed them here in Dublin. The earth’s magnetic field turned southwards for a 24-hour period, sucking all the radiation from a solar storm into the north and south poles.”

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— Doug Earle (@EarleDoug) December 21, 2015

In Pictures: Last Night's Incredibly Strong Northern Lights https://t.co/7TUI2oyE3T #aurora pic.twitter.com/rECAA3ijZo — Cian O'Regan (@irishspaceblog) December 21, 2015

#space: First Time seeing Aurora Borealis from Northern Ireland last night! | https://t.co/sTN5pEFHhG pic.twitter.com/0nOS0Iahej

— r/ (@bzdt3) December 21, 2015

The Aurora borealis tonight, from just outside Bangor, Northern Ireland pic.twitter.com/jlHVwjhk9m — Rob (@rjcobain) December 20, 2015

@VirtualAstro Bit of a green tint of the Aurora Borealis this evening at Mussenden Temple, North coast of Ireland. pic.twitter.com/cys7voqALh

— Andrew Mulholland (@gbaman1) December 20, 2015

Tonight'sAuroraBorealisOverNorthCoastOfN.Ireland @barrabest @WeatherCee @DiscoverNI @VirtualAstro @ILoveNorthCoast pic.twitter.com/HalZcyvWx9 — Sharon Cuatriz (@agtawagon) December 20, 2015