Everyone is encouraged to keep a close eye on the north horizon over the next few nights as the northern lights are expected to be visible.

According to Astronomy Ireland a huge display of Northern Lights is forecast for Irish skies this evening as billions of tonnes of radiation is spewed out by the sun directly to Earth.

Editor of Astronomy Ireland David Moore said “We’ve been monitoring the radiation coming from the Sun and NASA and other bodies are predicting the northern lights will spill out of polar regions and come as far south as Ireland tonight and possibly the next few nights.

“Everyone should keep a close eye on the north horizon but if the display is as big as those 10 years ago the whole sky could be ablaze with rays and curtains of dancing aurora, one of the most spectacular sights in nature!” 

As well as this, Mr Moore said that Mars and Saturn are both in view.

The organisation Astronomy Ireland will also be setting up some of the most powerful telescopes in Ireland and inviting members of the public to see the planets with telescopes a thousand times more powerful than their eyes.

Anyone with an interest in astronomy who would like to use these telescopes is invited to the Astronomy Ireland headquarters, Dublin, on Thursday, September 29 at 7.30pm.

Astronomy Ireland are located in Rosemount Business Park, Blanchardstown, Dublin.