Star gazers were out on force early Friday morning to see the Geminid meteor shower from Doi Inthanon National Park in Chiang Mai, where more than 100 "falling stars" were sighted every hour.
Photo handout by the National Astronomical Reserch Institution of Thailand shows the Geminid meteor shower at Doi Inthanon, taken at 01.57am of Dec 14, 2012. (Photo by Suparuek Karuehanond)
The meteor monitoring was organised by the Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand.
The institute's deputy director Saran Posayajinda said more than 200 people travelled to Doi Inthanon, braving temperatures on the mountain as low as 4 degrees Celsius to watch the spectacular show.
Telescopes of various sizes were set up for meteor spotters who also had the opportunity to learn about different planets, constellations, nebulas, galaxies and other extraterrestrial objects.
Don Inthanon was one of the best locations to sight the meteor shower, however large gatherings were also reported in areas such as Saraburi and Chiang Rai, where skies were clear.
There was no moon shining last night, the moon is in its new phase, which made the meteor shower clearly visible.
The Geminid shower is so-named because it appears to emanate in the sky from the constellation Gemini (The Twins). They fall to Earth when our planet passes through debris shed by a large asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon, astronomers say. This is unusual for annual meteor showers, which are typically caused by comet particles.
