Scientists baffled by damp squib aerial show

Star-gazers got rain on their heads and the scientists egg on their faces after the Leonid meteor showers failed to deliver the promised shooting star spectacular early yesterday morning.

Ireland's amateur astronomers hoping for a glimpse of the long-awaited meteor showers were utterly defeated by an impenetrable cloud cover that blanketed the skies. Observers in the Far East, where the best view of the shooting star phenomenon was predicted, fared little better.

Most of Japan remained under clouds throughout the night and those waiting to catch sight of the meteor display in Thailand's highest national park saw little more than gloom.

Most of eastern Australia also remained under heavy skies. "We didn't see a damn thing. I thought it was going to be amazing," complained an Australian student among about 150 people who braved cold, drizzly and windy weather at the Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra.

Even where skies were clear there was little to see, leaving scientists puzzled as to why the 1998 Leonids failed to deliver the goods. A Canadian and American scientific expedition to Mongolia, where viewing conditions were excellent, braved bitter minus 20C conditions to see only a few hundred shooting stars.

Tens of millions of Indians saw a handful of shooting stars, not the many hundreds or even thousands that had been promised. Leading Indian astronomers said they had no answers to the poor show.

NASA said first reports indicated the storm produced about 1,000 meteors an hour, in line with expectations but far below the 150,000 meteors an hour seen in 1966, the most intense Leonid bombardment in recent memory.

The Leonid showers occur when the earth passes through the debris left behind by Comet Tempel Tuttle. The dust and dirt burn up in the upper atmosphere, creating the momentary streaks of light we know as shooting stars.

The night of the Leonids was not without tragedy. A 19-year-old Japanese woman watching the meteor shower died after falling into a ravine near Tokyo.

The Leonids also failed to cause any significant damage to the world's 500 orbiting satellites. There were fears that the meteor shower would knock out communications or geo-positioning satellites. Only one satellite has been destroyed by a meteor, the European Space Agency's Olympus in 1993.

--(Additional reporting AFP, Reuters)