Thousands of stargazers gathered overnight at one of the darkest spots in Israel hoping to be dazzled by the annual Perseid meteor shower, only to be left somewhat disappointed by the show.
Locals had the rare task of directing traffic on a moonless Monday night in Mitzpe Ramon in the heart of the Negev Desert, a spot surrounded by terrain described as similar to a lunar or Martian landscape.
The Feinberg family drove for two and a half hours from the Tel Aviv region for the display.
"We are here waiting for the stars to fall; the children are very impatient," said Eliran Feinberg, 42, who works for an air cargo company.
But the number of meteors, about one or fewer per minute, failed to truly light up the Ramon Crater's dark night sky as in previous years. The Perseid meteors are seen every August when the Earth passes through debris from the 109P/Swift-Tuttle comet. The comet itself orbits the solar system every 133 years and made its last close approach to Earth in 1992, and is expected to make its next close pass in 2126.
Professor Rennan Barkana, head of the astrophysics department at Tel Aviv University, said this year's shower was not as intense because the Earth had passed through a sparser part of the comet's debris than previously and a smaller amount of particles entered the atmosphere.
