Cloudy weather foils Singaporeans' plans to watch the Perseid ...
Updated
Aug 13, 2024, 08:10 PM
Published
Aug 13, 2024, 06:55 PM
SINGAPORE – While the Perseid meteor shower lit up the sky over Europe, the US and Malaysia on recent nights, Singaporeans missed out on the spectacle on Aug 12.
The best time to watch the “light show” in Singapore was supposed to be midnight on Aug 12 to 4am on Aug 13, when 50 to 100 meteors per hour were expected to be seen, but cloudy weather hid them from view.
The celestial phenomenon, considered the best meteor shower of the year by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) in the US, transfixed astronomy buffs around the world as the meteors left streaks of light and colour in their wake while passing through Earth’s atmosphere.
The more fortunate stargazers managed to see about 50 to 100 meteors per hour under ideal conditions, CBS News reported in the US on Aug 12.
The Perseid meteor shower, named after the Perseus constellation to help viewers determine which shower they are watching, is active every year from July to September but reaches its peak over several nights in mid-August.
In 2024, the meteor shower is active between July 17 and Aug 24, according to Royal Museums Greenwich.
Meteor showers are formed when the Earth passes through a cloud of debris left behind by a comet or asteroid. The Perseid meteor shower is caused by debris left behind by the Swift-Tuttle comet.
The Science Centre Observatory told The Straits Times in a report on Aug 12 that Singaporeans could face challenges such as light pollution and frequent cloud cover when they try to catch the meteor shower.
Among those disappointed by the no-show was TikTok user @sallsphee, who said she had cycled out at midnight to watch the Perseid meteor shower but did not see a single thing in the sky.
Facebook user Lee Zhi Da said on Aug 13: “(It is) 1.23am. There’s nothing at Pasir Ris Park. The only lights in the skies are airplanes landing at the airport. (There are) thick clouds overhead.”
Elsewhere, the fortunate ones included British photographer Josh Dury, whose shot of the meteor shower above Stonehenge in Wiltshire, southern England, on Aug 9 was recognised as Nasa’s astronomy picture of the day, reported Yahoo News.
“To be recognised by a body like Nasa, I’m just like, wow. It’s an immense privilege,” he said.
Mr Dury, who won the Historic Photographer of the Year Award in 2023, said his phone had been “going off constantly” since Nasa shared his image. The experience has been “quite positively overwhelming”, he added.
Other stargazers from areas such as Malibu in California and Alabama in the US, and Tasik Timah Tasoh in Malaysia were excited to catch the meteor shower.
Noting that the shower did not disappoint, Alabama TikTok user @jriceastro said: “All night we were like ‘Ooooooooo you see that one!’. You can even see some stable auroral red (SAR) in the frame, which is crazy to even see this far south! We counted 294 meteors in all!”
Another user, @patrickc_la, said: “I went to Malibu last night to film the Perseid meteor shower and got this insane video! This is by far the biggest and brightest meteor I have ever filmed.”
