Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks 2018 AUG 12-13

[CentaurZ]

The annual Perseid Meteor Shower is already underway. The Perseids are debris from the periodic comet 109P Swift-Tuttle.

The shower is expected to peak during the night of 2018 AUG 12-13. Its radiant is in the constellation Perseus. That is the direction toward which the meteor tails point, but the meteors are equally likely to appear anywhere along your horizon. The region near your zenith will likely present the fewest but brightest meteors.

The Perseids are usually the finest shower of the year. Normally at the peak up to sixty meteors per hour may be seen by some sharp eyed folks. For observers north of the tropics, the meteors appear virtually all night, although most prolifically during the hours before dawn. The waxing crescent Moon near the shower’s peak will set during the early evening and should not be a source of interference.

Descriptions of the shower or perhaps even lucky photos would be welcome additions to this thread. 

[ShrewView]

Thanks for this. That's a very useful table.

The Perseids are one of my favourite events each year so if its clear here I'll be out. No moon this year either so fingers crossed.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I saw the peak of the shower 3 yrs ago from a cruise ship off the coast of Germany. I counted 60 in about 3 hrs.

My favourite shower if the Geminids.

[Stu Todd]

This should yield nice results even from the southern hemisphere. No Moon for a change!

Yes, even from NZ we still see a good amount...

[JeremyS]

Some more info about observing prospects from the BAA meteor Section here.

[JamesF]

Spent some time outside this evening just watching for them.  Lovely clear sky, the Andromeda Galaxy visible to the naked eye, a beautiful Milky Way with a very distinct fork as it passes down to the south.  Really gorgeous.  Best I've seen in ages.

Meteors were few and far between however.  I saw about half a dozen of which two were particularly outstanding.  One left a long bright trail covering about ten degrees of sky as it passed to the south west alongside Aquila and very shortly afterwards there was a similar one to the west of Corona Borealis.

Sadly the cloud is now coming in and there's little improvement forecast over the weekend, so that might be it for this year.

James

[VNA]

Saturday night is supposed to peak if I understood correctly the report on the radio!

Although will look tonight, there is less smoke in the sky from the fires!