Crowd scientists including one professor from Cumbria have said Donald Trump's inauguration had a third of the attendance of the 2009 event for Barack Obama and there is no "alternative reality".

Professor Keith Still and his colleague Marcel Altenburg, from Manchester Metropolitan University, analysed the crowd at the ceremony on Friday.

The academics also said three times as many people were in the area the following day for the Women's March.

The pair were asked by the New York Times to analyse both of the events and did so using seven live video feeds.

Prof Still said the estimated attendance for Mr Obama's first inauguration ceremony was between 1.1 and 1.8 million and was the highest recorded crowd to attend an inauguration.

He said they used the iconic photograph of the packed National Mall, taken 45 minutes before the former president took the Oath of Office in 2009, and compared that to images from the same time on Friday.

He said: "There were one-third of the people in that field of view."

The professor said he and his colleague spent 13 hours analysing the images from the inauguration from his home in Cumbria on Friday and then worked through the night on Saturday analysing images from the Women's March.

He said they would now do more detailed analysis using tools such as infrared images and 3D crowd models to try and work out more exact numbers.

He told the Press Association Mr Trump's claim that he believed there were between one million and 1.5 million people at the ceremony may have been correct because of his view from the podium.

He said: "If you put yourself in his position on the podium, he can not see how far the crowd goes into the distance."

But he added: "Anyone should have fact checked that.

"You're not entitled to your own facts."

At a briefing held after the ceremony, White House press secretary Sean Spicer claimed photographs of the audience at Mr Trump's inaugural were intentionally framed to minimise the appearance of support and the tycoon had drawn the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration.

His senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told NBC's Meet The Press that the Trump administration was supplying "alternative facts".

Prof Still said: "I can't comment on the politics but facts are facts and there is no alternative reality.

"We do our assessment as scientists and present facts."