Bandar Seri Begawan – Members of the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD) have caught glimpse of shooting stars in the night skies above the Temburong, despite of the clouds, as the annual Perseids meteor shower intensified last night, August 12, 2020.

The meteor shower of the year was expected to reach its peak Wednesday night into Thursday morning, with the best viewing expected just before dawn. But this year’s shower was accompanied by a last quarter moon, making our sky less for ideal meteor viewing.

And for many parts around Brunei Darussalam, the clouds obscured the most popular celestial light shows. Despite of the moonlight interference and cloudy sky last night, meteor observers had spotted 5 bright meteors and fireballs of the Perseid.

The meteor shower observation was attended by a group of 17 members of PABD which was held in Sumbiling Eco -Village, Temburong.

The event consisted of a video conferencing with other amateur astronomers from regional Persatuan Astronomi dan Falak Negeri Kelantan and the Sabah Stargazers to update meteor shower observation outcomes and exchanging ideas about astronomy.

Earlier in the evening, there were Milky Way hunting activity and stargazing with bright Jupiter and Saturn planets on the spotlight. The observation site offered a good view of the glowing white band of starlight of our galaxy.

Last night’s event came to an end with a spectacular pre-sunrise celestial pairing of the the half moon passed close to the star cluster Pleiades (or Seven Sisters) in the constellation Taurus.