Bandung watches as the heavens rain down
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 08/14/2007 1:10 PM
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Although constrained by cloudy skies, Bandung residents were able to catch an awe-inspiring glimpse of the Perseid meteor shower, which lasted until 2 a.m. Monday.
Meteor showers are a regular occurrence, but the phenomenon was usually particularly visible around mid-August, according to Taufik Hidayat of the Bosscha Planetarium in Lembang, West Java.
According to astronomer Joe Rao on news website MSNBC on Sunday, mid-August was a time ""when Earth passes close to the orbit of (the comet) Swift-Tuttle, the material left behind by the comet from its previous visits rams into our atmosphere at approximately 37 miles per second (60 kilometers per second) and creates bright streaks of light"".
The Swift-Tuttle comet ""takes approximately 130 years to circle the sun,"" he wrote.
Yanti, a Bandung resident, said she was delighted to be able to see specks of the meteor streaming above a hill north of Bandung, as well as two large shooting stars.
She had gone with a group of friends and observed smaller meteors until 5:30 a.m. Monday.
The shower was also clear to a group of astronomers on the hill in the nearby Dago area, who said they spent more of their time that night focusing their telescopes on Jupiter.
