STARGAZERS in Worcester and the surrounding areas were treated to a dazzling sight.

The Perseid meteor shower passed through the sky and in some areas through the Northern Lights.

Also known as the aurora borealis, the Northern Lights put on a stunning show across the UK on Monday night with sightings reported as far south as Cornwall.

According to the Met Office, the Northern Lights are usually best witnessed in Scotland, northern England, North Wales and Northern Ireland.

However, under certain space weather conditions — a particularly strong geomagnetic storm — they can be seen throughout the UK.

The natural light display is caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with earth’s magnetic field.

The colour display depends in part on what molecules the charged particles interact with.

The Met Office forecast suggests the activity should return back to background levels on Tuesday with any visible aurora restricted to the far north of Scotland.

Clear skies across the country also meant people were able to catch a glimpse of the Perseids on Monday night.

The event is associated with the dusty debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle which orbits the sun once every 133 years.

The meteoroids from the comet, mostly no bigger than a grain of sand, burn up as they hit the earth’s atmosphere at 36 miles per second to produce a shooting stream of light in the sky.