A software engineer has captured an extraordinary image of one of nature's most spectacular phenomena as it lit up the sky above Nottingham on Tuesday night.

The incredible sight of a green streak shooting across the night sky was said to have been caused by a sporadic meteor, considered a "random" meteor that does not belong to a known meteor shower and can be observed on any clear night, as opposed to a shower meteor which is associated with the debris trail of a comet or asteroid.

Nicholas Shanks posted the once-in-a-lifetime shot from his X account, stating "I just saw my first ever sporadic meteor! At 19:11 UTC looking SE whilst crossing the Clifton Boulevard bridge in Nottingham, a bright green streak from about 40° above the horizon down to 20° above, lasting ~2s." The news comes as the October Harvest Moon to brighten UK skies in days - how and when to see the supermoon.

Sporadic meteors appear randomly from all directions, though their rates can show seasonal variations and tend to be higher in the autumn and before dawn. They are a crucial baseline for studying showers, representing the dispersed remnants of ancient meteor streams or other sources of cosmic dust.