2007 Perseid Meteor Shower August 12-13

The source of the Perseid Meteor shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is nowhere near Earth, the comet's wide tail does intersect Earth's orbit. We glide through it every year in July and August. Tiny bits of comet dust hit Earth's atmosphere traveling 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a tiny smidgen of dust makes a vivid streak of light--a meteor--when it disintegrates. The shower is most intense when Earth is in the dustiest part of the tail. Perseid comets fly out of the constellation Perseus, hence their name. The best time to watch is during the hours before sunrise when Perseus is high in the sky whenever the peak or peaks fall around August 13, new Moon on August 12 creates perfect observing circumstances this year. For the Southern hemisphere the best time for viewing is 15h (3am) as this is the peak. I'm going to check my sky map, if I can find it, to locate where Perseus is.