May 2024 saw some of the finest displays of the aurora borealis or Northern Lights over Ireland and lower latitudes ever witnessed.

After a long and busy day photographing in Dublin, word was coming in from all sources of an amazing light show and even in the city I could see and photograph the stronger portions of the celestial display.

But it wasn't until I headed far from the city, into the Irish countryside that I was able to truly enjoy and photograph the unpredictable lightshow.

Still I didn't manage to make to some of my favourite locations over on the west coast of Ireland where the night sky is darker, thus more suited to astrophotography and night sky events.

It doesn't take much to see the difference, in Dublin and other large conurbations only the brightest stars are visible, in the countryside the sky can be so dark that it seems like you are staring into, literally, the vast reaches of the Milky Way and beyond.

I was reading recently of a ranking that lists the best locations for astrophotography in Europe and, interestingly, eight out the top ten sites were in Ireland!

Travel booking site, Omio analysed over 1,400 locations in Europe using factors such as clear views to the southern horizon, light pollution and the Bortle Scale that measures the astronomical observability of celestial objects.

Ballinskelligs in County Kerry ranks at number one, followed by Ashleam in County Mayo.

So what are you waiting for, now is the time to get to Ireland, use Omio to book your travel here and why not book a photography workshop with Panoramic Ireland when you're in Ireland.

Dublin's Docklands underwent significant, almost complete redevelopment in the 2000s with the biggest names in the tech industry still building and locating in the area today.

Here in Grand Canal Square the public realm was designed by landscape architect Martha Schwartz and the choice of red paving blocks and these tall red glow sticks were designed deliberately to give a red carpet effect coming from Daniel Libeskind's 2,000-seater theatre.

On the right is the distinctive chequered pattern of the Anantara The Marker Hotel.

This is now a good-looking part of the city and the redevelopment has brought a lot of life into the area that was run down for many decades at the end of the 20th century.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph in Dublin at night on our award-winning photography tours and workshops.