Image credit: Fred Bruenjes
The Perseids are the most well-known meteor shower in the Northern Hemisphere, but they are not directly visible in most of the Southern Hemisphere because the radiant is too far North in the sky. There are plenty of meteor showers that are visible however, so what can we see from here in Perth?
Name | Dates | Peak | ZHR (average) | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lyrids | 16th - 25th April | April 22nd | 20 | 271o +34o |
η-Aquariids | 19st April - 28th May | May 5th | 70+ | 338o -01o |
S. δ- Aquariids | 12th July - 19th Aug | July 27th | 20 | 339o -16o |
Orionids | 2 Oct - 7 Nov | Oct 21st | 30 | 95o +16o |
Leonids | 10 - 23 Nov | Nov 17th | 20+ | 153o +22o |
Geminids | 7 - 17 Dec | Dec 13th | 120 | 112o +33o |
The table lists some of the main meteor showers visible from Australia. The date of the peak of the shower will vary slightly from year to year, as will the ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate), the predicted number of meteors you would expect to see at the peak under good conditions. The location column describes the position on the sky where the radiant will appear to be so, for the Orionids, the coordinates 95o, +16o are in the constellation of Orion.
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