It was the greatest show beyond Earth - and we missed it. People around the world watched in awe as the Leonid meteor storm staged a celestial light-spectacular. But in fog-bound York, we were lucky if we could still see the street lamp.

Mother Nature clearly failed to take local meteorological conditions into account before arranging this kaleidoscopic show. As we cannot ask for our money back, only one option remains. We must wait another 33 years for the meteors to come back, keeping our fingers crossed that they return on a crystal clear midsummer night.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.