2012 Meteor Shower List

The 2012 Meteor Shower List is presented in four separate parts. The showers are broken down by intensity with major, minor, variable, and weak showers being separated into their own groups. The general public and news agencies are encouraged to only use the list of major showers as they are the most well known and provide the most activity on a year to year basis. The other showers rarely surpass ten meteors per hour at maximum and are difficult to observe by the general public.

2012 Major Meteor Showers (Class I)

Information and Table Template Courtesy the International Meteor Organization.

The meteor showers listed above are the easiest to observe and provide the most activity. Particular attention should be noted to the time and moonlight conditions. All these showers are best seen after midnight. Some are not even visible until after midnight. Showers that peak with the moon’s age between 10 and 20 days will be affected by moonlight and difficult to observe this year. While the time each shower is best seen remains much the same year after year, the moonlight conditions change considerably from one year to the next. We will post upcoming details of each major shower that is free from moonlight well in advance of their peak activity.

2012 Minor Meteor Showers (Class II)

Information and Table Template Courtesy the International Meteor Organization.

The meteor showers listed above range from two to ten shower members per hour at maximum activity. These meteors can be detected by experienced observers but novice observers and the general public will have difficultly distinguishing these meteors from the major showers or sporadic (random) meteors.

2012 Variable Meteor Showers (Class III)

Information and Table Template Courtesy the International Meteor Organization.

The meteor showers listed above produce strong activity on rare occasions. Most of the time only a few scattered remnants of these showers are observed with rates of one shower member per night. Note that most of these showers are best seen during the evening hours, a situation quite opposite most meteor showers.

2012 Weak Meteor Showers (Class IV)

Information and Table Template Courtesy the International Meteor Organization.

The meteor showers listed above rarely produce an average of more than two shower members per hour. In some cases these showers have been recently discovered by video means, being too weak for visual observers to pick out from the sporadic background. This list is being provided for the experienced observer in order to follow the activity of these weak showers. Good luck with your observations in 2012!

Shower: named for the constellation or closest star within a constellation where
the radiant is located at maximum activity.

Activity Period: the dates when the shower is active and the observer can expect activity
from this source.

Maximum: the date on which the maximum activity is expected to occur.

S.L.: the equivalent solar longitude of the date of maximum activity.
Solar longitude is measured in degrees (0-359) with 0 occurring at the exact moment
of the spring equinox, 90 at the summer solstice, 180 at the autumnal equinox, and
270 at the winter solstice. Scientists use this time measurement as it is independent
of the calendar.

Radiant: the area in the sky where shower meteors seem to appear from. This position
is given in right ascension (celestial longitude) and declination (celestial latitude).
The radiant must be near or above the horizon in order to witness activity from a particular
shower.

Velocity: the velocity at which shower meteors strike the Earth’s atmosphere.
The velocity depends on the angle meteoroids (meteors in space) intersect the Earth.
Meteoroids orbiting in the opposite direction of the Earth and striking the atmosphere
head-on are much faster than those orbiting in the same direction as the Earth. This
velocity is measured in kilometers per second.

r: The Population Index, An estimate of the ratio of the number of meteors
in subsequent magnitude classes. Simply stated: the lower the “r” value, the resulting
overall mean magnitude of each shower will be brighter. “r” usually ranges from 2.0 (bright)
to 3.5 (faint).

ZHR: Zenith Hourly Rate, the average maximum number of shower meteors visible
per hour if the radiant is located exactly overhead and the limiting magnitude equals +6.5 (a very dark sky).
Actual counts rarely reach this figure as the zenith angle of the radiant is usually less and
the limiting magnitude is usually lower than +6.5. ZHR is a useful tool when comparing the actual observed
rates between individual observers as it sets observing conditions for all to the same standards.

Time: this is the time of night when meteors from each shower are best seen. Quite often
the radiant will culminate after sunrise therefore the last dark hour before dawn will be listed.
Daylight Saving Time (Summer Time) is used from March through October. These figures are also
highly dependent on the latitude of the observer. The time listed is most precise for mid-northern
latitudes.

Moon: the age of the moon in days where 0 is new, 7 is first quarter, 14 is full,
and 21 is last quarter. Meteor activity is best seen in the absence of moonlight so
showers reaching maximum activity when the moon is less than 10 days old or more than 25
are much more favorably observed than those situated closer to the full moon.

Class: A scale developed by Robert Lunsford to group meteor showers by their intensity:

Class I: the strongest annual showers with ZHR’s normally ten or better.

Class II: reliable minor showers with ZHR’s normally two to ten.

Class III: showers that do not provide annual activity. These showers are rarely active
yet have the potential to produce a major display on occasion.

Class IV: weak minor showers with ZHR’s rarely exceeding two. The study of these
showers is best left to experienced observers who use plotting and angular velocity
estimates to determine shower association. Observers with less experience are urged to
limit their shower associations to showers with a rating of I to III. These showers
are also good targets for video and photographic work.

Tags: 2012 Meteor Activity 2012 Meteor Showers Annual Meteor Showers Meteors

Robert Lunsford

Bob has been interested in the stars as far back as he can recall His first experience with meteors was a biggie, the 1966 Leonid shower. In 1980, a major awaking occurred. He received a sample copy of Meteor News. He was amazed to learn there was a group actually devoted strictly to meteor observing! He joined the group also started to view some of the minor showers list among the pages of Meteor News. Lastly, he was contracted by Springer Publishing in 2007 to write a book on observing meteors. The book is now available and hopefully will be a useful guide to all interested in the enjoyable field of meteor observing.