Northern Lights light up the night sky across Westmeath

The Northern Lights lit up the night sky across Westmeath last night. The aurora borealis are a natural light show in the sky caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with gases (oxygen, nitrogen) in Earth's atmosphere.

Last night's red and green dancing curtains of light was the result of a huge geomagnetic storm that took place 93 million miles away on the Sun.

Last night's display was one of the rare occasions the aurora can be seen over Ireland.

Westmeath Examiner reader Brenda Loughman took shots of the celestial phenomenon: “These are the northern lights taken last night at my home in Violetstown, Gaybrook. They were just with my iPhone. You can see a shooting star in one of the pictures.”