Tom’s short journey to capture Northern Lights!

While most people might consider heading to Norway or Iceland to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights, Tom O’Hanlon admits he just “nipped around the corner” from his home house to capture the magnificent spectacle in Rahan!

The award-winning photographer from College View in Rahan, outside Tullamore, says he packed “bag and baggage” on Sunday night last when he heard there might be the slightest chance that the night skies over Ireland would offer a glimpse of the Northern lights, and he headed towards St Carthage’s Church in Rahan.

“It’s literally around the corner from my home house and I couldn’t believe it when the skies lit up over the church with the most fantastic display of every colour imaginable.”

He had to wait around for quite a while but says it was “definitely worth the wait” when, at 10.32pm he captured a magnificent shot of the historic Church bathed in a kaleidoscope of colour. The resulting image has been shared widely on social media and even featured in the Irish Independent!

Tom has a huge interest in astrophotography and has captured many award-winning images of the night skies at this stage, but he said the “missing piece” in the jigsaw puzzle was always the northern lights, so he is delighted that he has “ticked another box” for his portfolio.

He also captured some lovely images of the Northern Lights at Clara Bog, and again on Monday night at Lough Boora, but he says there was “a lot more cloud cover” on Monday night.