Unclear skies played spoilsport for the rare sky gazer who stayed up all night to watch today's Leonid meteor shower
Unclear skies played spoilsport for the rare sky gazer who stayed up all night to watch today's Leonid meteor shower
Across the world star gazers had their eyes glued to the sky last night to witness the celestial fireworks by the Leonid meteor shower, a phenomena that peaks once every 33 years.
However, Mumbaikars chose to give this show a miss.
Around 3 am today was predicted to be the best time to see the shooting stars. One would have expected a crowd gathered at Worli's Nehru Planetarium, but when this correspondent visited the centre it was deserted.
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However, a few ardent sky watchers were out on the streets hoping to catch a glimpse of the lit
sky, but most seem to be disappointed.
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No Star-Dom: Instead of enjoying a glorious shower of meteors, Radhika Khundela had to pass the night chatting with cops at Juhu beach. |
Radhika Khundela (37), an avid stargazer, travelled all the way from the US as she heard that India would provide the best view of the Leonid meteor shower.
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"I have done a lot of research on such meteors, they are considered to be lucky as they are sighted very rarely.
I was able to see few streaks near Malad, as I was heading to the beach to get a better view," said Khundela, who had a vision set to the sky almost all night.
In rural Thane district, a group of 20 trekkers had organised a trip to Murbad only to witness the shooting stars, but they were a disappointed lot.
Prof V Kale, who had organised the trip, said," We did not see any movement in the sky even through our powerful telescopes.
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I think Mumbai and the surrounding areas could not see the showers because of the unclear skies."
The Leonid meteor showers will also be seen tonight.
