Perseids
The Perseids is an annual meteor shower active from 17 July to 24 August . It reaches its peak around 13 August . It originates from debris left by 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Under ideal, dark-sky conditions with the radiant directly overhead, observers might see up to 100 meteors per hour (ZHR).
Vital Statistics
Understanding the Data
The ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate) represents the maximum number of meteors a single observer would see per hour under perfect, unpolluted dark skies, assuming the radiant point is perfectly overhead. In practice, city lights and moon glare usually lower the visible count significantly.
The Radiant is the point in the sky from which the meteors appear to originate. You don't need to look directly at the radiant to see meteors—they will dash across various parts of the sky—but the radiant helps identify which shower a meteor belongs to.