The 2012 Perseid meteor shower

The typical maximum of the Perseids falls into a period between 12h and 14h30m UT on 2012 August 12. Although the Moon is a waning crescent, three days after last quarter on August 12, it will rise from mid-northern locations around local midnight to one a.m. Its brightness and relative proximity to the Perseid radiant should be considered more of a nuisance than a deterrent, even so. Such mid-northern latitudes are the more favoured for Perseid observing, as from here, the shower’s radiant is usefully observable from 22h–23h local time onwards, gaining altitude throughout the night. All forms of observing can be carried out on the shower, though unfortunately, it cannot be usefully observed from most of the southern hemisphere.

We encourage visual observations to be made according to the standard procedure
and submitted through the online report form.
Such observations will automatically be included in the ZHR activity graph below.

Activity graph below is updated every 15 minutes – click for details.