STARGAZERS in some parts of the UK were treated to a display of meteors last night.

The weather threatened to put a dampener on the annual Draconid meteor shower, but the clouds parted for some, offering a glimpse of the spectacular display on Sunday.

One particularly dazzling shot was captured by Press Association photographer Owen Humphries, over Howick rocks, in Northumberland, as a fisherman looked on.

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He said: "I was out to capture the Northern Lights, which there was a good chance of, so I headed up the coast to find a good dark location and chose The Bath House, at Howick – a favourite of mine because it so quiet.

"I was shooting a time-lapse and just watching the stars and night skies, hoping for the aurora to show, and then all of a sudden there was a huge bright light with green in it that lit up the whole sky.

"At first I thought it must be a firework to be that bright, it was incredible.

"I stopped the time-lapse to check if caught it and I had, I was I’ve the moon. It was the best I’ve managed to capture and I am out a lot under the stars, taking photographs – it’s probably going to be years until, if, I see one like this again."

Named after the constellation of Draco the dragon, the shower occurs in the Northern Hemisphere and is one of two meteor showers to light up the skies in October.

It comes from the debris of comet 21 P/ Giacobini-Zinner and can be seen without binoculars or a telescope.

 

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