![\"Solar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/7a21c6f0-7246-486c-bdbc-6332b4262665.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe light show is predicted to start late this evening, experts say, and again early tomorrow – with more possible later in the day.<\/p>\n
It all began with the largest solar flare of the year, just before 10am on Tuesday, when a colossal swollen sunspot on the sun\u2019s surface suddenly snapped.<\/p>\n
A solar storm is a sudden discharge of material full of charged particles and swirling magnetic fields from the sun\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a solar flare is an explosion that emits light and blasts a solar storm away from the sun.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s flare had an immediate impact 100km above our heads.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe so-called \u2018ionosphere\u2019 became quite disturbed during this period and caused interruptions in radio communications and navigation systems over parts of Europe and Africa,\u201d said Professor Peter Gallagher, head of astronomy and astrophysics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the largest flare this year, and one of the largest of this solar cycle. The flares that produced the really bright Northern Lights seen in Ireland last May and October were smaller,\u201d Prof Gallagher said.<\/p>\n
Parts of Europe and Africa felt the disruption almost immediately with interruptions reported in radio communications and aircraft navigation systems across the two continents.<\/p>\n
Solar flares are tied to the solar cycle – a roughly 11-year rhythm in which sunspot numbers surge up to a solar maximum, and dwindle to a minimum before the cycle repeats itself.<\/p>\n
A sunspot is a temporary, darker area on the sun\u2019s surface, which varies in size, and is caused by intense magnetic activity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Solar flares are tied to the solar cycle<\/p>\n
A flare on the sun hurls hot gas towards the Earth which collides with our planet\u2019s magnetic field. The Northern Lights are what happens when charged particles arrive into the upper atmosphere, and reacting with the molecules already there.<\/p>\n
The geometry of the Earth\u2019s magnetic field \u2013 which makes life on Earth possible by protecting us from cosmic radiation by deflecting the charged particles of the sun \u2013 means the northernmost counties of Ireland will have the best view of the Northern Lights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Earth\u2019s magnetic field has a shape similar to a bar magnet,\u201d Prof Gallagher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the poles, the magnetic fields reach down to the Earth\u2019s surface, channelling material from solar storms to the Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aurora (Northern Lights) therefore usually occurs at higher latitudes. That is why people in countries such as Norway, Sweden and Canada see the aurora more frequently than we in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a really large solar storm to be visible from mid-latitude countries such as Ireland,\u201d Prof Gallagher said.<\/p>\n
Aside from their curiosity value, solar flares and accompanying space weather bring a range of earthly risks.<\/p>\n
Bursts of radiation interfere with GPS signals, air traffic radars and satellites, while also subjecting flight crews and passengers to increased radiation, particularly those working polar routes.<\/p>\n
Flights can be disrupted. In 2003, for example, flights over Greenland were grounded after an especially fierce solar storm.<\/p>\n
In Ireland, modern precision agriculture, which relies on accurate satellite positioning is vulnerable to space weather events, as are magnetic surveys and drilling operations.<\/p>\n
The electricity grid is another concern. In 1989, Canada\u2019s grid was crippled by solar storms.<\/p>\n
As our own Government\u2019s National Risk Assessment notes, adverse space weather is regarded as a similar strategic risk to extreme weather and natural disasters.<\/p>\n
Adverse \u2018space weather\u2019 can also slow transportation networks and jeopardise power supplies \u2013 even though these cosmic disturbances begin 150km away from Earth.<\/p>\n
Ireland does not participate in the Space Safety Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) covering space weather forecasting, despite joining ESA back in 1975, one year after its founding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are great opportunities for Irish companies, universities, and government agencies to win contracts from ESA to work on space weather,\u201d Prof Gallagher said.<\/p>\n
![\"Professor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/26a92e33-a11c-49b2-afe6-932658912873.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Professor Peter Gallagher, head of astronomy and astrophysics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS)<\/p>\n
As society gets ever more reliant on global networks, scientists like Prof Gallagher believe that space weather forecasting must be part of the everyday meteorological service available to the Irish public.<\/p>\n
Building a capability in such forecasting can protect critical infrastructure and inspire a new generation of researchers who want to unravel the secrets of the sun.<\/p>\n
The DIAS Aurora \u00c9ire initiative encourages amateur sky-watchers to submit photographs of the Northern Lights to build up a national archive of images of these rare events.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you do live in a city such as Dublin, Cork or Galway, go north of the city well away from any lights and stare to the north,\u201d Prof Gallagher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aurora comes and goes over many hours, but do expect to have to wait outdoors in the cold for many hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWrap up warm and bring a flask of hot tea. When the aurora does occur, the wait will be worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you do spot the aurora, please upload any photos you take to the DIAS Aurora \u00c9ire website (dias.ie\/aurora-eire),\u201d Prof Gallagher added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The light show is predicted to start late this evening, experts say, and again early tomorrow – with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,898,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-145912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-latest-news-ticker","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}