Stunning photos capture August's Sturgeon Moon

The August full Moon, also known as the Sturgeon Moon, illuminated the sky over the UK on Thursday night.

As an added bonus the Sun, Earth, and Moon lined up to create a lunar eclipse in parts of the world.

BBC Weather Watchers captured stunning photos of the celestial display - which reached its peak pre-dawn across the UK.

In many areas the Moon took on a reddish appearance.

During a partial lunar eclipse, as experienced in the UK, the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, causing the Moon to temporarily move into the Earth's shadow.

Only part of the Moon entered the darkest section of that shadow, known as the umbra so it was not completely cut off from sunlight.

Sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere is scattered, with shorter blue wavelengths scattering more easily, while more of the longer wavelength red light reached the Moon.

These wavelengths are then reflected back towards Earth, giving the eclipsed Moon its reddish colour.

As with the other full Moons across the year, it gets its name from events happening in nature around the same time.

Historically, full Moons have been given nicknames to help people keep track of time and monitor the changing seasons.

The August full Moon gets its name from the time of year when when sturgeon fish are abundant in the rivers of North America.

Our next full moon, on 26 September, is called the Harvest or Corn Moon as it's the time of year when crops are traditionally gathered.

However, here in the UK the extreme heat of the summer has meant the harvest has been earlier this year for many.