Amazing Perseid Meteor Shower Photos of 2012

2012 Perseid Meteor Shower: Douglas Keck

Douglas Keck

Stargazer Douglas Keck snapped this photo of two Perseid meteors together while watching the 2012 Perseid meteor shower on Aug. 11-12, 2012, from his driveway in Bella Vista, Arkansas. Keck used a Nikon D70 camera.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2012: Maxim Senin

Maxim Senin

Even the bright lights of Los Angeles, Calif., couldn't wash out the 2012 Perseid meteor shower. Night sky observer Maxim Senin captured a Perseid (lower right) in this view from Los Angeles National Forest north Castaic, Calif., outside L.A. (the city lights appear bright due to long exposure) using a Canon 20D camera.

Perseid Meteor Graphic 2012

NASA/JPL

This NASA sky map shows the location in the northern sky where the Perseid meteor shower will appear to radiate from in 2012. The Perseid meteor shower peaks every August and appears to fly out of the constellation Perseus.

2012 Perseid Meteor Shower Map

Starry Night Software

The Perseid meteors appear to radiate from a point between the constellations Perseus and Cassiopeia, in the northeastern section of the sky. The 2012 Perseid meteor shower display peaks on Aug. 12.

Perseid Meteor Shower Radiant Altitudes

Joe Rao

This chart depicts the position (in degrees above the horizon) that the Perseid meteor shower radiant will appear in the northeastern sky in August 2012. Your closed fist held out at arm's length covers 10 degrees of the night sky.

2012 Perseid Meteors over Southern New Jersey

Jeff Berkes

Astrophotographer Jeff Berkes sent in a photo of Perseid meteors taken at East Point Lighthouse in southern New Jersey, August 2012.

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Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.