Northern Lights could be visible from UK this weekend

"The sun is a huge seething nuclear cauldron, a hundred times wider than the Earth and there's hot plasma bubbling up from below and it can get blocked by the magnetic fields and that can occasionally cause an explosion, typically once a week, that would dwarf the world's entire nuclear arsenal.

"That blasts billions of tons of radiation, small atomic particles, which hit the Earth but we have a magnetic field and that channels them into the North and the South Pole.

"That sort of oval of activity around the North Pole stretches further south and we see it."

"Well, if you're out in the countryside, you'll always get the best view. Low on the Northern horizon, you'll often see the aurora.

"What I saw last week, for instance, was rays on the horizon. A sort of band of light in the north and then these rays that would come and go in intensity.

"They always show up much better on cameras because they can take long exposure photographs. We got some fantastic pictures into [Astronomy Ireland Magazine] of last week's one."

“You'll see a lot of the pictures coming in from Donegal and Mayo because they're looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.

"But Ireland's a fairly small small island, so really you should be able to see it from Kerry and Donegal at the same time, especially if it's a strong display and they're the ones we all want to see.

"You'd want to find somewhere you don't have bright lights on the northern horizon. So, if you're in a town or a city, try and get out of it.

“But I’ve seen them from Dublin suburbs within a kilometre of the city centre. If you can see an aurora from there, you can see it anywhere.

“The big displays everyone sees, the minor ones - you're better off in the countryside.

"You always get a better view in rural locations away from all the street lights."