Cloud, fog cover disappoint skygazers looking for dazzling meteor showers in India, Nepal

Cloud cover blocks meteor showers in India, Nepal

NEW DELHI — Thousands of stargazers stayed awake overnight for what was forecast as an intense Leonid meteor shower over Asia this year, but the show fizzled rather than sizzled for many viewers — partly due to cloud cover.

One group of about 30 amateur astronomers had some luck during their vigil at the Siriska wildlife sanctuary, nearly 95 miles (150 kilometers) south of New Delhi — counting 78 Leonids during a four-hour period.

“There was no moon in the sky, which is good for observation,” said Yogeshwar Kanu Aggarwal, a member of the Space Science Popularization Association of Communications and Educators. “We could see flashes of light for almost 10 seconds as bright as star Sirius.”

All across Asia, viewers stayed up until the early hours of Wednesday to catch a glimpse of the Leonids, which are bits of debris from the Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Appearing like flashes of light in the sky, NASA scientists had projected there would be up to 300 raining down every hour compared to a typical night when there about eight an hour.

“They will be a streak of light which is caused by the meteor burning up in the atmosphere,” said scientist Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, adding that the meteors travel at 156,000 miles per hour. “When they hit the atmosphere, the ice or dust doesn’t last very long so it burns and leave a streak of light to mark its demise.”

Nearly 300 young students spent the night at a school on the outskirts of New Delhi to glimpse the spectacle, but they were not overwhelmed. Event organizer Akanksha Ahuja said the students saw shooting stars with “a white trail in the sky.”

“It was good, but we expected much more to happen,” Ahuja said.

A cloudy sky disappointed thousands of skygazers in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. Pawan Sharma, a 36-year-old photographer, could only spot two shooting stars, one of them big enough to be seen streaking across the sky in a window between the clouds.

“It was a momentary thing. It was so disappointing,” he said.

In Nepal, cloud and fog cover over much of the Himalayan nation blocked views of the meteor shower.

Jayanta Acharya, astronomy professor at Katmandu’s Tribhuwan University, said he woke up early to view the meteor shower from the rooftop of his house in Katmandu.

“It was a big event for us and we are all disappointed to have missed it,” Acharya said.

Several people had traveled to a mountain resort at Nagarkot, northeast of Katmandu, and camped in hotels and even tents for the event.

They braved the cold weather but the cloud and fog blocked their view.