The crystal-clear sky sparkled with constellations as small groups of stargazers huddled together on the dark, cold hillside at Clinton Lake.

“Oh! Did you see that?” a female voice rang out, followed by laughing from her friends.

“I saw that one,” another voice said about 50 feet away.

“OHHH,” more voices said together, followed by muffled, happy conversation.

Huddled in small groups, about 30 people were looking up to the sky about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday on the south side of a hill at the Clinton Lake overlook area.

Bundled up against the cold, they had come out to see what astronomers predicted would be the best Leonid meteor shower for the next 97 years.

And they weren’t disappointed :quot; about every minute or so, another white hot meteor would flame across the sky for maybe a second, maybe less, before disappearing in the atmosphere.

“I wanted to see the shooting stars,” said Kayla Huffman, a Kansas University junior from Lawrence. “I’m really fascinated by them. I like to see the ones that have the big red streak after them.”

Bundled up against the 40-degree weather, Huffman joined a group of other KU students from the Delta Gamma sorority, who arrived about 4 a.m. for the stargazing show.

“We saw about 10 really big ones and then, a lot of really small, really faint ones,” Huffman said. “It was good to come out on this hill.”

Several other members of the sorority also enjoyed the early-morning activity.

¢ Space.com’s report on the Leonids¢ NASA’s Leonid information

“It was really cool. I hadn’t ever seen anything like it. It was definitely worth the trip,” said Kasey Stark, a KU sophomore.

Not everyone thought the celestial event lived up to its billing.

“I didn’t think it was as fabulous as I thought it would be. I thought it would be like one hell of a Fourth of July,” said Lawrence resident Melissa Shaw, who attended Campitronicon, an annual music-fest/campout to watch the Leonid meteor shower.

“I’m very disappointed. It’s a gorgeous night, so I’m not disappointed in the stars,” Shaw said.

She was among about 15 Campitronicon attendees who watched the meteor shower from the southwest side of Clinton Lake.

The Leonid meteor shower still was supposed to be visible tonight, but only a few shooting stars were expected each hour after midnight.

“I’m sure there will still be a few around Wednesday night, but less,” said Ross Janssen, 6News meteorologist. “Head south of town and look to the southern skies.”

If you’d like to watch another display of celestial fireworks, you’ll have to wait until Dec. 14 for the Geminid meteor shower.