SHOOTING STARS
The UK-China Leonid Meteor Shower
Observation Project

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Some background...

Shooting Stars started as part of last autumn's Sino-British Science Festival, which ran from August December in Beijing. It was a public appreciation-of-science event inspired by the arrival in November over Chinese skies of Leonid Meteors, which are associated with the tail of comet Tempel-Tuttle.

Shooting Stars continues in 1999, and incorporates a series of exciting educational activities, including visual, photographic and radio observation of the Leonid Meteor Shower in November 1998, in China and of the Total Solar Eclipse in August 1999, in the UK. There has been an opportunity for teenagers from both countries to win reciprocal educational visits to China and the UK as part of the observation team, by taking part in competitions organised in the two countries.

At the heart of the Shooting Stars event and the inspiration for the autumn's activities, was an exhibition of photographs entitled Night Skies: The Art of Deep Space. This featured the work of the award-winning astronomical photographer David Malin. The exhibition can be seen in the UK at the London Science Museum, where it will be shown during the period leading up to the eclipse.

The exhibition was officially opened on 5th October 1998, the night of the full moon and the Chinese Mid Autumn Lunar Festival. David Malin was the guest of honour and he was welcomed by professional and amateur astronomers from the Beijing Region.

Two days later, the Prime Minister and Mrs Blair visited the exhibition, then launched the UK's JANET university computer network in China and saw educational collaboration between the Orbital Mechanics and the Haidian Youth Centre.

The festival activities continued with a competition for Chinese teenagers based on the Leonid observation reports. The winning group visted the UK in August 1999, viewed the Solar Eclipse in the UK and attended Space School UK.

In 2000 the project continues with an Internet Tele-Conference between London and Beijing, from the Millennium Dome.

The British Council in China is working in collaboration with Beijing's Haidian Youth Science and Technology Center, the Beijing Planetarium and Beijing Ancient Observatory, to organise the events. The educational activities are being organised in the UK through SPACE SCHOOL UK, the Space Education Council and The Orbital Mechanics Educational Network.

The public in the UK, particularly young people, were invited to take part in two activities.

These were:

• An Expedition by a group of British teenagers to observe the Leonid meteor shower, was organised with the assistance of SPACE SCHOOL UK. Selection was by means of a competition.
• The LION Partnership Programme to view and study the meteor shower were organised through the Space Education Council. UK secondary schools and other interested organisations (eg astronomy societies and youth organisations) are invited to partner a Chinese school in a joint investigation run across the Internet.