PICS: Stunning Northern Lights Sightings Around Ireland Marking Winter Solstice

If you've always dreamed of seeing the Northern Lights, as Dorothy says in The Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home." Folks living on the Irish coast, from the Aran Island of Inis Oírr all the way down to Waterford and some parts of the East, could be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis from their own back gardens, courtesy of the Winter Solstice. Astronomy Ireland issued an alert late last week, which materialised on Sunday evening. 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.”

Winter Solstice is here-shortest day of year - aurora borealis over Newgrange, Boyne Valley Ireland pic.twitter.com/cjKxlkVHoY

— 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