SAR skywatchers showered with dazzling meteor display
Did you see it? This was the question on everybody's lips on Monday, a few hours after the Leonid meteor shower had lit up the Hong Kong night sky.
Astronomers were not disappointed this year, as more than 1,200 shooting stars were observed over Hong Kong, where the city's lights blocked out many dim meteors. During the peak hour - between 2 and 3 am - about 500 stars were seen streaking across the sky, accompanied by loud cheers from observers. At times, the dust particles left long, glowing trails.
'This is better than fireworks!' one skywatcher exclaimed, while another made a wish: 'I want money without having to work!'
Many students who showed up to watch the spectacle camped out on cold, wet beaches.
A group of Form Four girls from Bishop Hall Jubilee School had taken a day off, with permission from their parents and teachers.
'Our teachers said 'What a brilliant idea!' when we asked for a day off school,' said Leung Siu-mei. For Siu-mei, the experience was so unforgettable that she plans to join an astronomy club. 'I counted more than 800. It was fantastic,' she enthused.
One student from the University of Hong Kong, who only gave his surname as Tang, planned on skipping Monday's lectures. 'A Leonid storm only occurs once in 33 years, but we go to school five days a week.'
A big fan of astronomy, Mr Tang and some friends had started watching the skies on Friday. The dazzling flurry of meteors in the early hours of Monday morning had fulfilled his dream after missing the 'big one' in 1998.
'I will never forget what I have seen,' he said.
At around 7 am on a Cheung Chau campsite, students with bloodshot eyes were changing into their school uniforms and making their way to the ferry.
No doubt their schoolmates would be 'showered' with descriptions of the spectacle they had witnessed.
