Skygazers were treated to a spectacular display of celestial fireworks over Hampshire last night as the Earth flew through a cloud of cometary dust.

The Perseid meteors, shed by comet Swift-Tuttle, stage their show every August and are among the brightest of all shooting stars.

A clear sky gave most parts of the UK an opportunity to spot the meteors, said Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna.

The meteors, mostly no bigger than a grain of sand, burn up as they hit the atmosphere at 58 kilometres (36 miles) per second to produce a shooting stream of light in the sky.