WHAT a splendid photo by Paul Kingston published in Monday’s Northern Echo (Jan 23), displaying the Milky Way and hundreds of stars in the sky above Teesdale.

As a regular stargazer, I was extremely impressed with the photograph as it gently portrays the space around us.

It amazes me how some individuals cannot grasp, or even accept, that there is life somewhere in the cosmos and that our planet is often visited by intelligent beings from other worlds.

I got so excited by Paul’s photo that I drew the Milky Way galaxy on my forehead before I went to collect my partner from work. I think that she eventually realised that I had either been reading about the cosmos or trying to make contact with aliens by sending out transmitted signals with the assistance of an old radio set.

Unfortunately, I was unable to make contact, but I did manage to pick up BBC Tees.

Christopher Wardell, Darlington.