text: While sunseekers across Britain have been making the most of the clear skies recently to soak up some sunshine, the lack of clouds has also proved a bonus for stargazers in Scotland hoping to catch sight of shooting stars. This incredible image was captured above Pitcaple in Aberdeenshire yesterday as photographer Graeme Whipps picked up two meteors which were part of the Lyrid meteor shower. The annual celestial event has been observed for the last 2,700 years across the globe, but is most visible in the northern hemisphere, and is expected to peak tonight with between 10 and 20 meteors an hour. Scroll down for video . Close up: A magnified version of the image above shows one meteor appearing to graze the horizon, while another meteor trail appears top left . Stunning: Graeme Whipps captured this image of the Lyrid meteor shower in the skies above Pitcaple in Aberdeenshire yesterday . The strength of the showers vary from year to year and most years there are no more than five to 20 meteors an hour, but in 1982 Americans counted nearly 100 an hour and in 1803 it was as high as 700 an hour. The Lyrids are created by debris from comet Thatcher, which takes about 415 years to orbit around the Sun, and appear to radiate outwards from a star known as Vega and the constellation Lyra in which it sits - which gives the meteors their name. Mr Whipps, a 50-year-old meteorologist, said: 'I was out photographing the sky and saw the meteor, which was amazing.' While the Lyrid shower has been known to produce up to 100 meteors sightings per hour, most years the peak, which occurs tonight, only produces between five and 20 per hour (the Lyrid shower pictured from space)
target: Lyrid meteor display is visible in skies across the globe every year in April, and has been observed for 2,700 years .
  Number of meteors is unpredictable, usually peaking at around five to 20 an hour, but has reached 100 per hour .
  Graeme Whipps captured this image of meteors passing through the skies over Pitcaple in Aberdeenshire yesterday .