witness the greatest cosmic light show for decades.

Over the past two nights Bermudians have looked to the skies to see a meteor shower which astronomers had predicted would be the most spectacular this century.

And they were not disappointed as hundreds of colourful lights streaked across the sky for long periods on both nights.

Perseid appears each August as Earth passes through a trail of debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle, usually producing about 60 streaks across the sky every hour.

But astronomers said this year's shower would be particularly intense, partly because the comet passed closer to Earth last November on its 130-year orbit than it had in more than 2,000 years.

Although the concentration of sightings is less in Bermuda than in other parts of the world the meteors were about four times more visible than usual.

Bermuda Astronomical Society Vice-president Mr. Eddie McGonagle said he spotted 56 meteors over a three hour period on Wednesday night. This compared to 13 random meteors which he sighted that could be seen on any normal night over the same time period. He also sat out at 5 a.m. for 20 minutes and spotted seven more meteors.

"Although it was a little hazy at first the sky cleared and I was able to get a good view of the meteors,'' said Mr. McGonagle.

"There is no doubt that it is the best shower that I have ever seen and I have been involved in astronomy since I came to Bermuda 30 years ago.

"There were different levels of brightness. Some were as bright as the brightest planets like Venus and left a smoke trail behind them. It was certainly as spectacular as the experts predicted.'' Many Bermudians sat up into the early hours to see the light show. Mr.

McGonagle said: "You could hear people quite some way off. Every time there was a bright meteor I could hear "ooohs'' and "aaaahs'' drifting over.'' Thursday night's light show was not as spectacular and overcast skies until after midnight discouraged a lot would-be spotters. But when the sky cleared many meteors could still be seen.

In other parts of the world star-gazers were not as lucky. Cloudy skies over much of the northeast United States spoiled the view.

Clouds also cheated those in Britain, Ireland, Holland and other parts of western Europe. The London Weather Centre said thick cloud shortly before midnight had blotted out most of the sky.

SHOW TIME -- A meteor flashes across the Bermuda sky, part of the spectacular Perseid storm seen over the past two nights.