Light pollution, cloud cover, and a less dense debris field than anticipated hampered the anticipated Camelopardalids meteor shower and left skywatchers and amateur astronomers looking at the sky with little to no payoff.

Throughout the week, astronomers had said the mystery meteor shower could produce hundreds of shooting stars in the course of an hour, or it could be a total no-show. Since this was the first time Earth had ever passed through the trail of Comet 209P/LINEAR, there was no way to know just how much space debris had been left behind over the course of the centuries.

After the first night of observations, the celestial light show could be described as lackluster at best. For the thousands of amateur star gazers and citizen scientists who tried to observe the phenomena last night, poor conditions hampered any viewing possibilities. Cloud cover stretched across a large portion of the viewing area of North America, obscuring visibility, and those in city and suburban landscapes had to battle copious amounts of light pollution.

As many people documented on twitter, the Camelopardalids were a no show in their first brush with the Earth’s atmosphere. However, the lack of a dazzling display of cosmic incineration last night should not discourage viewers from checking out the Camelopardalids tonight. Last night was not the predicted peak of the meteor shower; scientists predict that will occur tonight (May 24) between 2-4 AM.