Stargazers were out across the county at the Perseid meteor shower rained over Dorset (From Dorset Echo)

Stargazers had their eyes and lenses pointed skywards over the weekend as meteors rained down over Dorset.

The annual Perseid meteor shower put on a spectacular display on both Saturday and Sunday night as the earth flew through a cloud of cometary dust.

Spectators headed out to some of the county’s more remote spots to soak up the best views with others holding out until the early hours to capture some stunning photographs.

Retired scientist Harry McBride from Iwerne Minster stayed up until 3am to get his perfect shot.

He said: “I set up my camera with an interval monitor and checked it throughout the evening.

“I took about 500 images in total, of which probably about five per cent are useable.

“It is very easy to make a mistake when you’re trying to capture a meteor.

“Things like aircrafts going past can sometimes look like a meteor if you’re not careful, and the thing with Perseids is that the tail of the comment has to be facing the Perseus constellation or it’s not a Perseids.

“I am very pleased with my picture and it was nice to get something in the foreground and, if you look carefully, the meteor is pointing towards the handle of the saucepan of the Plough.”

The Perseid meteors, shed by comet Swift-Tuttle, are a recurring August phenomenon and are among the brightest of all shooting stars.

The multi-coloured streaks are so called because the radiant (the point they appear to come from) is within the constellation Perseus – a Greek hero and slayer of monsters.

Husband and wife James and Angela Hughes, from Shaftesbury, captured a great shot of the shower using a Canon 1200d and Sigma 18-35mm lens.

Angela said: “The picture was taken using 263 frames shot, at intervals of five seconds for about a hour-and-a-half. Me and my husband are both amateur photographers.

“He’s more into his night photographer and I am into landscapes so we came together as a team on this one.

“We wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything so we sat in the garden having a glass of sherry, talking and taking pictures, it was a lovely evening.”

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