This weekend saw the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower, a yearly celestial event which lights up the night skies across the world.
Lyrids are pieces of debris from the periodic Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, which combust as they enter the Earth's atmosphere, producing a kaleidoscope of red, white, yellow, green and blue lights.
In some places, the show was framed by the the heavenly glow of the aurora borealis, as was so beautifully captured in the video below, which was produced by Kameron Barge on Lake MacDonald in Glacier National Park, Montana.
The phenomenon, also known as the Northern Lights is caused by storms erupting on the surface of the Sun, which throw matter towards Earth.
This year an astronaut on board the International Space Station was on hand to attempt the first-ever 3D photography of meteors from space.
Operating a camera from 400km above Earth’s surface, Don Pettit was part of a three-pronged attempt by Nasa to capture the shower from space, observatories on Earth and from a research balloon in the stratosphere. The pictures aren't up yet, but we're very excited about them.
In mid-April every year, Earth passes into the stream of debris from the comet, causing the shower. Lyrids have peak meteor rates of between 10-100 per hour.
Did you catch a snap of the Lyrid shower? Email us your pictures using the hashtag #lyrids to ukpicturedesk@teamaol.com
The Aurora Borealis above Great Slave Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories
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A slideshow of northern lights taken in Fairbanks, Alaska, last month
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This weekend saw the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower, a yearly celestial event which lights up the night skies across the world.
Lyrids are pieces of debris from the periodic Comet C/1861 G1 Thatc...
This weekend saw the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower, a yearly celestial event which lights up the night skies across the world.
Lyrids are pieces of debris from the periodic Comet C/1861 G1 Thatc...
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Huffington Post UK | By Sara C Nelson Posted: 24/04/2012 14:54 Updated: 24/04/2012 16:26