Perseids meteor shower 2019 and astronomical observation

A perseid meteor trailing past Orion. Credit: Joaquin Galán.

The Perseids meteor shower for 2019, was not a favorable observing sight this year due to the moon phase, however, since they are active from July 17 and August 24, being the maximum activity on the night August 12-13, other observing windows were more desirable.

This observing session took place on the night of August 10-11, with the maximum peak from 4:00 am to 6 am on the night of the 11. The expectation was to see just 10-15 Perseids per hour, maybe slightly more on the peak night from 12 to 13 August. In year without moonlight, one can expect to see between 150-200 meteors an hour.

This particular event is associated with the comet Swift–Tuttle, and they received this name because the point from which they appear to hail, that is the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus.

The observing site was near Guadalcanal in the province of Seville, South Spain, in the Sierra Norte of Seville, at an altitude pf 450 metres and with a radiance 0.19 x 10¯⁹ watt/cm²*sr, the moon was 10. 48 days old disk was 81 % illuminated, and sat at 3:43 am.