<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><head></head><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Courier; "><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* <b>The Perseids meteor shower</b> is generally visible between July 23 and August 22. Maximum occurs during August 12/13. The hourly rate typically reaches 80, although some years have been as low as 4 and as high as 200. The meteors tend to be very fast, possess an average magnitude of 2.3 and leave persistent trains.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Perseids set to put on a great show</b> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"If weeknight observing leaves you tired and cranky, here’s some good news: One of this month’s premier events occurs Saturday night, August 11/12, when the Perseid meteor shower reaches its annual peak. Start observing around midnight local daylight time. Although a waning crescent Moon rises shortly after 1 a.m., it won’t have much impact because the shower consistently produces lots of bright, fast-moving meteors.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Observers under clear dark skies likely will see 60 to 80 meteors per hour streaking across a spectacular predawn sky that includes the bright planets Venus and Jupiter. Perseid meteors are tiny chunks of rock and dust from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. When Earth plows through this debris stream each August, our planet’s atmosphere incinerates these particles." from Astronomy Magazine, August 2012, p. 37.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Courier; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">* For more information about Meteor Showers, visit Gary Kronk's Meteor Showers Online web page at <a href="http://meteorshowersonline.com/"><span style="font: 12.0px Courier; text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #3300ff">http://meteorshowersonline.com/</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Courier; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Courier; "><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"></span></div></body></html>