New Delhi: Though clouds played spoilsport for those hoping to catch a glimpse of scintillating shooting stars in the meteor shower last night (Aug 11, 2004) at many places around the world, some space enthusiasts proved lucky as they watched the beautiful sight.

"It was not possible to see the meteor shower here. But, we have got reports that some people did see shooting stars at about 3 am in places like Ahmedabad," Dr N Rathnasree, director of Nehru Planetarium said.

Around 10-12 meteors every minute were observed by some groups at Japiur Highway at about 2 hrs (IST), Amitabh Pandey from the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) said. The meteor shower was better than last year, he said.

However, most people were disappointed worldwide due to clouds except those in Turkey where good observations were made, Rathnasree said.

The meteor shower was special this year as Earth passed through the dust left by a comet, 'Swift Tuttle', when it broke in 1862. Every year the Earth crosses the orbit of this comet itself, which brings shooting stars to Earth, she said.

But, when earth passes through the dust, meteors are seen as being trailed by dust. Expectations were that meteors would fall with a frequency of 200 per hour during the peak time that was 2 and 2.30 hrs (IST) last night. In a usual meteor shower, there are about 20-30 meteors per hour.

Earth would again pass through this dust in 2010, but shower would not be that intense. Next peak is slated for 2028 when Earth would pass through some other part of dust leading to good meteor shower, Rathnasree said.