The night features guided stargazing, planetary viewing, milky way hunting and the “First Light” Astrophotography Challenge, where the first attendee to capture a meteor alongside the Milky Way wins a Dobsonian telescope. To preserve the viewing environment, a strict “Red Light Only” policy will be enforced after 10:00 PM to protect everyone’s night vision.

Spaces are limited and registration is required. Pack your camping gear and head to Kampong Batu Apoi for an unforgettable night of “Dark Skies and Falling Stars.” For more details or to book your slot, visit https://bruneiastronomy.org/web/meteorcamp2026/

Bandar Seri Begawan – Despite challenging weather conditions, a group of fourteen members of the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD) successfully conducted naked-eye observations of the annual Geminids Meteor Shower in the early hours of Sunday, 14 December 2025 at Kampong Sungai Mau, Belait.

The event, known as the “Geminids AstroCamp”, was held from 12:30 AM to 2:30 AM, during which members gathered to witness the celestial display and capture it through photography. Based on observations documented by the team, approximately 50 Geminid meteors were sighted, including several striking fireballs, despite limited visibility.

One participant, Muhammad Hidayatullah bin Awang Ahmad shared: “It was a challenging night for viewing, with nearly 80% cloud cover and overcast skies for most of the session. Nevertheless, the meteors we managed to observe, particularly the brighter fireballs, made the effort worthwhile.”

Despite cloudy skies, PABD member Mohamad Nur Raziqqien bin Abu Bakar captured a vivid Geminid meteor streaking across the prominent Orion constellation, which lies right next to Gemini – the radiant of the meteor shower.

The Geminids are widely regarded as one of the most reliable and spectacular annual meteor showers, originating from asteroid 3200 Phaethon. This year’s observation coincided with the shower’s peak between the nights of 13 and 14 December 2025. Under ideal conditions, the Geminids can produce as many as 120 meteors per hour (ZHR), making them a highlight of the astronomical calendar.

Meteor showers take place when the Earth, in its yearly orbit around the Sun, crosses paths with streams of cosmic debris released by comets or asteroids. These tiny fragments, often no larger than grains of sand, enter the atmosphere at tremendous speeds and incandesce due to friction with air molecules, creating the luminous streaks commonly referred to as “shooting stars.”

PABD thanked the Bukit Sawat Village Consultative Council (Majlis Perundingan Kampung Bukit Sawat) for their invaluable support in facilitating the AstroCamp.

The Geminids are unique among major meteor showers because their source is not a comet, but rather an asteroid 3200 Phaethon. As Earth passes through the trail of dusty debris left behind by this object, the particles burn up in our atmosphere, creating the brilliant streaks we call meteors. Under ideal conditions, the shower boasts a Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of up to 120 or even 150 meteors per hour. While light pollution and other atmospheric factors will reduce this count in practice, the 2025 viewing conditions are considered highly favorable for Brunei. This is because the waning crescent Moon will be only 27-30% illuminated and will not rise until a few hours after midnight, ensuring the early peak hours are free from significant lunar glare.

According to the International Meteor Organization (IMO), the more reliably reported Geminid maxima during the past two decades all having occurred within solar longitude λ⊙ = 261.5◦5 to 262.4◦, that is 2025 December 13, 15h to December 14, 12h UT. Thus, the best time to look up will be after the constellation Gemini (the radiant point from which the meteors appear to originate) has risen high enough in the sky, typically from the mid-evening 11 p.m. of Dec 13 (local Brunei time) onwards, and peaking around 2:00 AM local time on December 14th. However, unlike many other showers, the Geminids offer good activity even before midnight. The most crucial tip is to find a safe location far away from the bright city lights of Bandar Seri Begawan and other major towns. Lay down comfortably on a blanket or deck chair, allow your eyes at least 20 minutes to adjust to the dark, and scan the entire sky, looking about away from the Gemini constellation for the longest and most impressive meteor trails.

This annual celestial show is a fantastic opportunity for both seasoned astronomers and casual observers in Brunei to witness nature’s spectacle. The meteors are often described as bright and can be multicolored making them a truly memorable sight. The key to successful meteor observation is a clear sky, so remember to check the local forecast. However, even if the skies are partly cloudy, don’t give up! The Geminids are so numerous that even brief cloud breaks can provide a chance to spot a bright streak. With its favorable timing and minimal moonlight interference, the 2025 Geminid meteor shower should be marked on calendar as a must-see astronomical event, offering one of the year’s best chances to enjoy shooting stars.

Here are some tips:

SUMMARY

● Early Viewing Recommended: The Perseid meteor shower peaks around August 12–13, 2025, but a bright full Moon will hinder visibility. Observers are encouraged to watch between July 29 and August 5, when moonlight is minimal and skies are darker.

● Meteor Origins and Activity: The Perseids result from Earth passing through debris from Comet Swift–Tuttle. Meteors can reach rates of 50–75 per hour under ideal conditions, though moonlight may reduce this by up to 75%.

● Optimal Viewing Tips: Best viewing is after midnight in rural or elevated areas with clear horizons. Allow 20–30 minutes for eyes to adjust. No telescopes needed!

Bandar Seri Begawan – Every August, the Perseid meteor shower graces the night skies in Brunei Darussalam with swift streaks of cosmic light. But in 2025, nature throws in an extra twist – you’ll want to plan around.

Although the Perseids peak around August 12–13, this year’s show clashes with a bright full Moon. Its glow is expected to significantly diminish visibility due to its intense brightness. Enthusiasts are encouraged to seize this pre-peak window to fully appreciate the brilliance and wonder of the Perseid meteor shower before lunar conditions become prohibitive.

▲ Perseids meteor shower peaks in mid-August, when Earth intersects the dust cloud left by comet Swift-Tuttle (Illustration: IMO)

The Perseids are active from July 14 to September 1. They occur as Earth intersects the orbital path of 109P/Comet Swift–Tuttle, whose debris trail comprises minute fragments of ice and rock. As these particles enter Earth’s atmosphere at high velocities, they disintegrate, producing luminous streaks known as meteors. According to the International Meteor Organization (IMO), normal rates of Perseids seen from rural locations are ranging from 50-75 showers per hour at maximum. But because of the presence of the Full Moon, the resultant sky brightness is expected to diminish meteor counts by up to 75 percent, limiting observation primarily to the brightest meteors.

▲ A bright Perseid meteor during Meteor Shower Camp in Tutong, Brunei Darussalam, on August 10, 2019 (Photo by PABD)

The radiant, or apparent point of origin, lies in the constellation Perseus, from which the meteor shower derives its name. Online star charts by BruneiAstronomy is available here to determine the location in the night sky of Perseus, which means Bearer of the Demon’s Head, from Brunei.

To optimize the viewing experience, it is strongly recommended that observers plan their stargazing sessions during the nights preceding the peak. This year, watch in the days before the peak on around end of July through first week of August (from July 29 until August 5), when moonlight is minimal and meteors zip through darker skies. The Moon will be less dominant in the early predawn sky during these dates, allowing darker conditions conducive to meteor visibility.

Hence, observers may witness a greater number of meteors unobscured by lunar glare. Refer to this schedule for detailed information on the moon’s rise and set times, along with its current illumination phase. A higher illumination value indicates a brighter moon, which contributes to greater sky glow – potentially reducing visibility of fainter meteors.

▲ 2024 ZHR Perseids meteor chart which shows the number of meteors an observer would see under a very dark sky in July and August (by IMO)

For meteor shower watch, observations are most favorable after midnight until dawn, when the radiant ascends higher in the northeastern sky. It is best to select a site distant from artificial lighting, such as rural or elevated locations with unobstructed views of the horizon. When arrive at your stargazing spot, allocate 20 to 30 minutes for eyes to acclimate to the darkness, and make sure to equip yourself with comfortable seating, suitable attire, and necessary provisions such as mosquito repellent etc.

Although the full Moon presents a challenge during the Perseid peak, early viewing offers an exceptional opportunity to witness one of nature’s most remarkable spectacles. These meteors, remnants of a comet last recorded approach in 1992, underscore Earth’s continual interaction with our dynamic solar system.

Observers reported seeing the meteor from Brunei Muara District and as far Tutong District. One lucky eyewitness saw the greenish flash and captured what appears to be a bright fireball on his dashcam.

Alhakim, 31 years old, was on his way home from work. A brilliant cosmic beam flashed in front of his view when he was driving along Jalan Kebangsaan heading north towards Jalan Utama Mentiri highway at around 7.40 pm.

“On that evening, out of the blue came something from the sky, and (it) struck from above going all the way with a bright green light,” Alhakim recalled.

His 5-second dashcam footage revealed a meteor coming down from West to East and disintegrated in the air.

“Few seconds later, it dispersed which I guess it broke off,” he said. “It was beautiful!”

The fireball dashing safely above Jame’ ‘Asr Hassanil Bolkiah mosque was also captured by two home security cameras at residence of one of the PABD members in Kiarong.

“It was moving approximately at bearing 040 deg (NE) to 080 deg (E) from Kiarong,” Hj Azri said on his Instagram TV post.

Social media comments by few netizens mistakenly thought the fireball was a comet as Leonard (C/2021 A1) lightshow occurred during its close approach around the same week. A comet orbits in space will display a fuzzy nucleus with its main tail and remains in the sky for few hours.

A meteor or “shooting star”, on the other hand, is the brief flash of light due to dust fragments from space that strike the Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds, and the larger ones will display fireballs.

Sightings of fireball in the night sky can be reported by any public members to the International Meteor Organization (IMO) for studying meteors via online form https://www.imo.net/observations/fireballs/fireball-report-program/.

A bright light in the sky or a fireball meteor as seen in the video footage taken from Mabohai, which was shared to the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD).

The dashcam was looking South at a traffic light stop in Jalan Kebangsaan when unexpectedly a bright flashing light moving westward emerged.

Mr Ng who reported the sighting to PABD said “I was driving towards Jalan Kumbang Pasang. As I was stopping at the traffic, my son and I saw a fast green meteor falling from the sky, and burning up until it disappeared.”

“My dashcam, which was continuously recording, caught the meteor event and I feel so luck!”

According to International Meteor Oganisation (IMO), fireballs are meteors that appear brighter than normal. Rapid falling meteor fragments larger than a grain of sand (about 1 millimeter) have the capability to produce a bright flash when encountering the atmosphere above. In fact, fireballs occur every day all over the Earth.

Thanks to Mr Christopher Ng for the report and video!

Did you see the fireball event? Do you have a photo or a video of this event? Please share us #bruneiastronomy. Contribute to the general database of knowledge about meteors by reporting to the International Meteor Organisation (IMO) here Report a Fireball

Stargazers were treated to a spectacle when the Lyrids meteor shower made its way to Brunei’s night skies on Thursday.

Some 100 local astronomy enthusiasts gathered at Bintudoh Greenspring Resort, Tutong District for the ‘Tonight It Will Rain Stars’ experience to observe celestial objects such as the Moon and planets through telescopes.

The Lyrids meteor event was jointly organised by the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD), the Brunei Adventure Recreation Association (BARA) and Universiti Brunei Darussalam Students’ Association (PMUBD).

PABD Secretary-General Hazarry bin Haji Ali Ahmad said the occurrence of the Lyrids meteor shower was sourced by the debris from the comet Thatcher. “Earth is passing through this massive stream of comet dust particles that fell into the upper atmosphere,” he said.

“They produce rapid streaks of light commonly known as meteors or shooting stars with an expected rate of 18 meteors in an hour.”

The camp provided participants with hands-on activities, including a workshop on ‘Night Mobile Photography’ by Sonny Jumpo of PABD.

A ‘Launch Your Own Rocketship’ competition was hosted by PABD member Siti Nor Izuana binti Ayob to challenge young participants to construct and launch a simple rocket made from water bottles.

In the morning, participants were brought to an astronomy exhibition featuring a one- to 130-billion scale Solar System model around the resort’s vicinity. The display represented an accurate equivalent scale of sizes and orbital distances of the planets, covering a radial distance of about 160 metres.

Campers also hosted outdoor activities to raise awareness on the environment on the occasion of Earth Day.

Earlier, PABD hosted a sungkai event for orphanage children and committee members, where the guest of honour was Acting Secretary of the Brunei Islamic Religious Council (MUIB) and Vice President of PABD Haji Abdul Aziz bin Haji Akob.

Haji Abdul Aziz presented donations to 12 orphans who took part in the programme.

The camp concluded with a prize presentation ceremony to the winning team of the water rocket challenge competition and top scorers of the online quiz.

Also present in a show of support was People’s Republic of China Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam Yu Hong.

It Will Rain Stars! Join us for these fun stargazing & enjoy camping under the stars in the suburban dark skies which offer a great view of our Milky Way Galaxy, and featuring the most wonderful night in Ramadan to catch the Lyrids Meteor Shower.

Thursday, 22nd April 2021 / 10 Ramadan 1442H
2.00 pm – 10.00 am
Bintudoh Greenspring Resort, Kg. Bang Nukat. Spg 113, Jalan Kg. Menengah-Bukit Sulang Tutong
BND 15 per pax (Limited participants)

More info: www.bruneiastronomy.org/meteorcamp

Reservation/Accommodation & Payment: +673 8899674 / WhatsApp / 2260122 (Mr Susis)

Bandar Seri Begawan – The Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD) is still investigating after sightings of a mysterious fireball accompanied with a loud bang was reported falling to earth in broad daylight last week, January 31, 2021.

On Sunday (February 7, 2021), a team of members of the PABD conducted further examination at the locations based on firsthand sighting video and photograph of the meteor event.

PABD is also working closely with the Sabah Stargazers with the support by a group of 4×4 off-road enthusiasts known as Jimmy Sierra Brunei Community by exchanging information on the coordinates in the sky of the reported meteor.

Currently, there are two key sources of evidence based on two dashcam-footage that accidentally caught the meteor at the same time – from Kampong Kulapis, Brunei Darussalam and Penampang, Sabah. These useful information were solid proof to determine the approximate physical characteristics of the meteor and its location, which were later triangulated by statistics from another eyewitness.

The fireball brightness is difficult to estimate due to bright sunlight, but usually ranges from magnitude -5 (equivalent to the planet Venus) to magnitude -10 (light produced by a half-illuminated moon). Based on the video recording by Abd Wafiy bin Hj Rudzi, the light from a fireball was estimated to be at magnitude -13 which is equivalent to the light produced by a full moon. This makes the event exceedingly rare and special.

Most ordinary meteors with diameter 1 millimeter or about the size of a grain of sand have the capability to produce a rapid flash as they streak the sky. But bright fireball that was seen easily in the daytime last week are many times that size – anywhere from a baseball-sized object to something as big as a small car.

Preliminary analysis by PABD has pinpointed the estimated location of the meteor explosion which occurred in the airspace of South China Sea, about 30 kilometers away from Bandar Seri Begawan, near the Brunei Bay and Southwest of Labuan Island.

Based on the elevation angles, the position of the fireball when the intense explosion occurred was computed about 35 km high above the ground.

When a meteor traveling at tremendous velocities penetrates to the Earth’s stratosphere, at an altitude of below 60 kilometers and explodes as a bolide, there is a high chance that the meteor triggers sonic boom which can be heard on the ground below.

NASA’s Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instruments on GOES weather satellites has detected the fireball travelling at velocity of 14 km/s, about 40 times the speed of sound with radiated energy impact in the atmosphere of equivalent to 720 tons of TNT above Brunei Darussalam. This information was reported by the Centre of Near-Earth Object Studies, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

The International Meteor Organization (IMO) has also verified and catalogued last week’s incident as Event 632-2021 on their website. In addition to the sonic boom heard by hundreds of netizens over social media, there were 11 confirmed reports about a fireball was seen over Belait District, Brunei-Muara District and Sabah on Sunday, January 31, 2021 around 03:02 UT or 11:02 am local time. However, the meteor trajectory and impact status has not yet been established due to missing reliable and accurate data.

The IMO’s International Fireball Program analyses meteor information provided by public eyewitness online which can be combined with other eye-witnesses to give a good estimate of the trajectory of the fireball, to help determine if a ground fall occurred and perhaps if the meteorite can be recovered.

Since 2005, the IMO had received about 224,000 fireballs reports from around the world, or an average of 15,000 reports every year.  Only a very few fireballs relate to meteorite falls.

PABD is keen to share the data and findings to the international and regional scientific community to further conduct a research on the meteor.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Isnin, 1 Februari. – Bunyi dentuman yang disangka guruh diiringi dengan gegaran yang terjadi kira-kira sekitar jam 11.00 pagi kelmarin sedikit sebanyak menimbulkan kepanikan dan menjadi persoalan kepada sebahagian penduduk di negara ini yang mengalami kejadian tersebut.

Jika terjadinya guruh dan kilat tetapi cuaca kelmarin begitu elok sahaja, sehingga ada beberapa persepsi yang mengaitkannya dengan beberapa insiden dari luar negara yang memberi impak kepada negara kita.

Menurut kenyataan yang dikeluarkan oleh Persatuan Astronomi Negara Brunei Darussalam (PABD) menerusi laman sesawangnya di ‘www.bruneiastronomy.org’, satu meteor besar (fireball) mencetuskan letupan yang disaksikan pada siang hari kelmarin, 31 Januari 2021.

Sehubungan itu, PABD menerima banyak laporan daripada orang ramai yang mendengar letupan kuat di awan dan mengumpulkan laporan saksi yang menyaksikan kejadian tersebut.

Sebahagian penduduk yang menyaksikan fenomena menakjubkan itu hingga menghasilkan bunyi dentuman yang menimbulkan ‘shockwave’ yang besar dari meteor yang terbakar di ruang angkasa di negara ini.

Salah seorang saksi, Abdul Wafiy bin Haji Rudzi berkata, beliau dan rakan-rakan yang lain pada ketika itu ada berkumpul dalam Jimny Community dari Kampung Tanjong Nangka yang hendak ke Kulapis, lalu berhenti sebentar untuk mengambil gambar sekitar kawasan itu.

Selang beberapa minit kemudian, beliau menyaksikan sesuatu yang aneh di awan dan memberitahu kepada rakan-rakannya yang lain dan beranggapan itu adalah permainan bunga api kerana benda itu mengeluarkan cahaya yang terang berwarna merah dan hijau diliputi asap, kemudian mengeluarkan bunyi letupan selepas beberapa saat.

Selepas itu, mereka pun masih bertanya-tanya mengenai kejadian itu.

Meskipun ‘drone’ mereka tidak sempat merakam, tetapi kamera ‘dashcam’ keretanya dapat merakamkan detik itu.

Meteor adalah fenomena alam yang rawak dan sukar diramal. Selalunya meteor terhasil apabila batuan angkasa yang dipanggil meteoroid terbakar di ruang angkasa. Namun jika meteoroid yang lebih besar tidak habis terbakar dalam perjalanannya di atmosfera dan mencapai permukaan bumi, objek yang dihasilkan adalah dipanggil meteorit.