PICS: Stunning images show the Northern Lights over Ireland on Tuesday night

Breathtaking scenes...

Ireland isn't renowned as being a good vantage point for the Aurora Borealis, but you'd have been forgiven for thinking it was judging by some of these photos captured on Tuesday night. First up a little explainer of what the Aurora Borealis actually is. We know it's those green lights in the sky, but what causes these strange and beautiful sights to decorate our skies? Charged particles are blown from the Sun through space by solar winds and the deadly cosmic radiation comes hurtling towards Earth. But thankfully, Earth has an invisible barrier against this radiation and these particles are deflected away by Earth's magnetic field. But the magnetic field is weaker at the poles, allowing some particles to enter Earth's atmosphere. The electrically charged particles from the Sun collide with gases (oxygen, nitrogen etc) in Earth's atmosphere causing them to light up causing auroras around the magnetic poles of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The spectacular light show was visible in areas around Ireland on Tuesday night and images were captured by members of the public. The below images were captured by Eddie Doherty over Boyne and Drogheda... More images were captured by Kenneth Mc Donagh up in Donegal... And Kenneth also created this wonderful time-lapse... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZeeK_oXwRg Video via DONEGAL WEATHERCHANNEL