Northumberland family photobombed by shooting star at Hadrian's Wall

A family have been pictured in a once-in-a-lifetime photo during an evening of stargazing on Hadrian's Wall.

Steve Swan, his partner Louise Redpath and their children Harry, 13, and Rose, 11, had travelled from their home in Morpeth to The Twice Brewed Inn for an event on Saturday night.

Having already enjoyed an aurora display in the night's sky the family posed for a photo with lights as a backdrop.

To their amazement the photographer captured a shooting star flying directly over their heads.

Steve said: "We’d already had a fantastic night, stargazing to the south of the pub and then Wil invited us all to go out to the north side as the aurora was looking so amazing.

"We couldn’t believe it when we saw the photo - ironically, we were the only ones in the group who didn’t get to see the shooting star when it happened - but we have a pretty special photo which captured the moment forever."

The photographer who captured the perfectly composed picture was The Twice Brewed’s resident stargazer, Wil Cheung, who leads the popular stargazing programme.

Wil said: "I still can’t quite believe the photo caught it so perfectly.

"Getting the aurora in the background and such a beautiful shooting star travelling across the sky just at the moment the family were posing for a photo - it’s amazing. I know I’ll never take another shot like that again. It’s a real one in a million stuff."

The photo-bombing shooting star is getting thousands of likes on his photography page on Facebook.

And Steve doesn't just have Will to thank for the magic moment - it was his mum who booked the stargazing session as a family Christmas present.

They now plan on getting the photo printed, framed and on the wall this week.