Pictured above is a Perseid meteor from 1993. The colors are representative but digitally enhanced. As the meteor streaked across the night sky, different excited atoms emitted different colors of light. The origin of the green tinge visible at the right is currently unknown, however, and might result from oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. Credit & Copyright: S. Kohle & B. Koch (Astron. I., U. Bonn)
Computations of the orbit of the Perseids between 1864 and 1866 by Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835-1910) revealed a very strong resemblance to periodic comet Swift-Tuttle (1862 III). This was the first time a meteor shower had been positively identified with a comet
The nominal date for the Perseid Shower (also called the Tears of St. Lawrence) is usually around August 13. During the last 6 years it has occurred on:
1991 August 12 17h UT 1992 August 12 6h UT 1993 August 12 15h UT 1994 August 13 0h UT 1995 August 13 6h UT 1996 August 12 12h UT
The predicted rate is about 100 meteors/hour at the Zenith (directly over head).
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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