Shropshire meteor treat for stargazer
The circular motion of stars as they make their way across the night sky is joined by the flare of a meteor as it hits the atmosphere.
The Perseid meteor shower has been making its annual appearance in the night skies this week – and across the county people have been staying up into the wee small hours trying to photograph the phenomenon.
But HGV driver James Lawton, from Tetchill near Ellesmere, is used to working through the night and took it all in his stride.
"I stayed up until past 2am with my brother to get this shot and it is quite a challenge to take photos like this," he said. "You really need to know your equipment, you can't just stick the camera on auto and expect to get a result.
"It's a case of using all your camera's manual settings and experience really helps with knowing what those settings should be.
"For example, you need to manually focus on infinity and use a very long exposure. In this case the shutter was open for over 10 minutes.
"And as well as knowing what settings to use, it also helps to have some luck on your side – you really need to have a clear sky."
The Perseids occur yearly between July 17 and August 24. They reached their peak on Wednesday night and last night when more than 100 meteors an hour were seen.
James captured the meteor image using his second camera, a Sony RX100 compact.
He said: "I really enjoy photography and it would be great to make a living from doing that, but there are so many people trying to do that, so for now I am just a keen hobbyist."
