Photographer captures jaw-dropping meteor streak across Scottish loch
Thomas Heaton/Rex
A British photographer may have captured the most breathtaking pictures of the recent meteor shower across Britain.
Thomas Heaton grabbed his camera in time when the magnificent sight trailed through the sky over a Scottish loch.
When the meteor appeared over the UK on Friday 21 September, Thomas was in the right place at the right time and chose Galloway Forest, the darkest area of Britain and the UK's first Dark Sky Park.
Speaking to Rex Features, Thomas, from Whitley Bay, explained: 'I was one of a handful who managed to photograph this dazzling astronomic light show and it just so happened that I was placed in the UK's number one dark spot.
'It was 10.54pm and me and my missus were star gazing at Galloway Forest Park when the largest meteor I could ever imagine seeing flew straight above our head.
He added: 'My first thought was a plane crash, as it lit up the whole area. I quickly realised it was a comet and grabbed my camera to take a quick snap.'
People across northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland took to social media sites to report the bright objects moving across the sky.
Jason Townsend wrote on Facebook: 'I saw it at 10:55 this evening going over Cumbria. It was amazing, bright, looked like a bunch of stars shooting through the sky. Couldn't get me phone out quick enough to get a pic.'
Graham Telford, from Leeds, wrote: 'To be honest, at first I thought it was a couple of planes too close together, but they were all on identical lines across sky.'
The Kielder Observatory in Kielder Forest, Northumberland commented on Twitter: 'Of 30 years observing the sky, fireball best thing I have ever seen period.'
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