The Northern lights were visible over Ireland last night and put on a stunning display.
Lucky skygazers who captured the light spectacle shared pictures on social media, with some saying it was the best they had seen in years.
Pictures of the aurora borealis display show the night sky lit up with red, green and pink lights "dancing across the sky".
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One person in Co Donegal wrote: "The northern lights putting on a show this evening - best show in a long time! Plenty of greens, reds and pillars of light dancing across the sky. Amazing to see!"
A second said: "Lovely wee show of the Northern Lights / Aurora Borealis over Buncrana here in Inishowen, County Donegal now. Delighted loads of folks got to see them to! Pale green and reds to the naked eye!"
Another shared pictures of Sunday night's display, writing: "This is the best display I have seen since March 2016.
"I will have further updates through Monday as we could well possibly seen strong condations Monday night."
For those who missed the Northern lights last night, they will be visible again tonight. According to one weather expert, those living in Northern Ireland will have a better chance of seeing the spectacular phenomenon - while further south it is unlikely.
Alan O’Reilly of Carlow Weather wrote on Sunday: "A chance of seeing Northern lights tonight and tomorrow. Best chance in Northern areas."
According to met.ie, the Northern lights (or ‘Aurora borealis’ in the northern hemisphere) result from collisions between gas particles in our atmosphere and charged particles ejected from the Sun’s atmosphere.
Their colour will change due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. Oxygen molecules at approximately 100km above the earth produce a greenish-yellow colour, while a red aurora can be seen when high-level oxygen molecules are involved. Blue or purple auroras indicate the presence of nitrogen molecules.
If you’re looking to catch a glimpse of them, Irish meteorologists advise: "The Northern Lights are best observed in locations with very small amounts of light pollution.
"Parts of the west and north coast would offer the greatest chance of seeing the display.
"There are a number of forecast services for the Northern Lights; one such service comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This provides a thirty-minute forecast for the Aurora."
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