Purple Reign

Northern Lights from Greystones THURS23MAR23 Albert O’Donnell

aving missed the day we covered the Northern Lights in Christian Brothers, it’s somewhat news to us that this atmospheric wonder is visible in Ireland.

That it should hit little ol’ Wicklow is something of a rare phenomenon though, a little research revealing that it’s Donegal that tends to get nature’s latenight light shows.

A man who knows his night skies is Enda Kelly of Wicklow Skies Astrophotography, who took the remarkable shot here of the town’s lighthouse back on February 26th.

And not far behind is our own Albert O’Donnell, whose passion for ‘astro, landscape and seascape’ has led to some remarkable night time images over the past decade. And on Thursday, March 23rd, at 11pm, he caught those Northern Lights dancing in the skies above Bray Head.

“I had been watching the the Irish Aurora Chasers Facebook page all day,” O’Donnell tells the Guide, “as they had predicted a possible big display on the 23rd due to a large coronal hole facing earth.

South of Dublin City 9.40pm 23MAR23 Gareth Nathan

“A friend was out shooting since the skies got dark so he gave me the heads up to get out ASAP, that it was really kicking off.

“So, I abandoned the camera club early and legged it home to get down to the marina…”

And that’s where Albert stood and waited, on a cold Thursday night at Greystones harbour, for an hour. And then another, even longer, hour.

“Well worth the wait to witness such an amazing view,” he laughs. “After going to Norway early last year in search of the Northern Lights, I came back empty-handed only to get this amazing display on my own door step.”

Serves him right, abandoning Greystones like that.

You can check out Albert’s wonderful work on Instagram here, Wicklow Skies Astrophotography’s moonstruck gallery here, and find out more about the Northern Lights in Ireland over here.